Looking good Borco. After my current foray I may try my cleric/illusionist again.
My fighter mage is also looking good.
Looking good Borco. After my current foray I may try my cleric/illusionist again.
My fighter mage is also looking good.
The Chronicles of the Moonblade
I was attacked by Neira, yet another assassin in Nashkel. When my sleep spell failed I ran outside, only to be followed by him. I quickly cast invisibility after which I left the battle to the Amnish Guard. They got the experience, but at least I didn't get hurt. ![]()
Upon crossing Greywolf, he attacked only to find that there are better fighters than he around. Mind you, it took all of my healing potions to survive.
I then went hunting Ankheg using sleep a lot. I did have to run from time to time however, but in the end prevailed.
Congatulations Grond0. Keep up the good work. ![]()
The Chronicles of the Moonblade
Having sold the shells, I was rich enough to buy better equipment plus some spells. I then joined up with Xzar and Montaron for a while. Montaron acquired a ring of freedom of action plus some spells including web. Then knowing that they wanted to go to Nashkel, I accompanied them there and left them there.
I then went to the gnoll fortress, killed some ogres and assassins, one of whom was difficult to kill due to being an excellent thief. Nevertheless, I prevailed, but being badly hurt I retreated to the Carnival where I licked my wounds and identified the loot.
I then continued my mission to clear the roads of bandits and killed many hobgoblins and bandits, not to mention Tristan and Isolde, the two assassins. Web kept them from doing me serious hurt. Sleep was enough to deal with the ogre with a belt fetish.
Going down Nashkel mines was straightforward. Web caught the assassins and I could then use the wand of fire. Just before it expired I switched to the necklace of missiles. When I thought all of them were dead, I moved forward and found yet another who was webbed. He was easy to kill. I picked up the loot and moved on and once I was in need of healing, retraced my steps to the carnival. I rested, healed and identified items after which I returned Joseph's ring to his widow.
I then returned and came across Mulahey. I blinded him, so thought myself safe from his spells. A misconception! He cast rigid thinking which was almost deadly. His minions attacked and though I killed some of them, others whittled my health points down to three!
needless to say, the first voluntary action I took was to gulp down a potion of extra healing. I then finished off the kobolds, picked up the loot, and consumed two potions of normal healing.
Upon leaving the mines I was given a knife. I killed a revenant and several undead picking up some useful items as I did so. I was attacked by Narcillicus who took some killing, but he fell eventually.
After picking up the reward in Nashkel I headed north again killing various monsters on the way. A party of assassins just south of the Friendly Arms hurt me badly, but nowhere nearly as badly as I hurt them. There was a thief who kept taking invisibility potions and then backstabbed me. He won't be stabbing anyone else again.
I then went to the bandit camp, avoided fighting Tazok by going invisible and headed south where I fought Brotus Bloodthirsty and his cohorts. I rested and went to Tazok's tent where I cast web which eliminated enough of the opposition to defeat the rest using my wand of fire, plus a few healing potions.
Upon leaving, I was set upon by Taugosz and a host of bandits, so I slipped back inside, cast invisibility and left. I had had enough of fighting, and besides I had a date with Ender Sai and the Friendly Arms Inn.
It turned out to be more than drinking a pint of ale together. ![]()
What I don't know is whether Tazok will still be there if/when I return, and what his behaviour will be as I have not followed the script that the devs will have expected. She is now fighter level 6. Mage level 6.
Not knowing the changes in the game, I made a small error. I didn't plunder the camp when all the bandits were peaceful.
That could be costly.
(Note: this is a fairly long post, with 17 screenshots. You have been "warned".
)
Martha, half-elven Totemic Druid, adventuring in Chapters 5-7 with Imoen, Kagain, Eldoth and Skie
There has been quite some progress for my party but also a MAJOR setback.
Ice Island
Not much to say about this place. Kagain (with PfM scroll) took most of the place by himself. Beyn, Andris and later Garan all fled from him. The first two managed to hide as Kagain killed Marcellus. As usual, Andris proved to be the most difficult foe. The scroll effect eventually timed out for Kagain (he had to waste several rounds hacking himself free from Cuchol's summoned skeletons) and Andris got some spells off even while he had Miscast Magic. All the Winter Wolf pelts sold for a pretty penny later. Eldoth drank a Master Thievery potion (pickpocketing 130%) and nabbed all possible 8 items from Shandalar. A Feeblemind scroll was the only interesing spell scroll we didn't have already.
Isle of Balduran
I have to say we came through here with flying colours. I had this place in mind all the way back when I first picked up Kagain and assigned his proficiencies (** in both Bastard Sword and Two Weapon Style).
Second alternative here is hilarious, IMO:

Kagain lured Daese downstairs without Karoug following. She was Miscast from Kagain's axe, and turned beast soon after that.
Karoug followed Kagain downstairs later, but didn't want to leave the ship for some reason, so Kagain toughed it out on the bottom floor. He did good damage but it was of course painful to melee Karoug. He got some help (or the credit stolen, depending on how you look at it) with the last part:

Slaying an almost legendary beast, that's a far cry from the snotty brat that thought even just being in the sewers was icky!
Kagain dual-wielded Sword of Balduran and Bastard Sword +3 vs. Shapeshifters against the werewolves and Loup Garou. Werewolves have less life than Wolfweres but I'll be damned if they don't hit just as hard. Skie scouted out most of them and scored some backstabs here and there, but larger packs required a good vantage point:

Imoen assisted with the Boomerang Dagger. It doesn't cost anything, so why not. This whole venture dried out my whole supply of Goodberries.
Iron Throne next. Confirmed again that something is fishy with my SCS install - only the 6 original guys were there. No thieves, even though Destus Gurn mentioned them by name.
Great hit from Kagain here, both spell failure and Miscast:

Afterwards, a great Imoen-Skie exchange happened outside. Skie showed Imoen some ballet dance moves. Imoen was certainly agile enough but the movements ripped her pants.
Since it does not take any time for Eltan to send us to Candlekeep, my gang was well prepared:

Only Kagain visible, and he's just about to read a PfM scroll. Only two of the ogre magi fought him at this stage, the other three camped out in invisibility. The rest of my party had been walking alongside the southern part of the map. Martha sent in a spirit lion to expose the other magi.
When fighting the first doppelganger in the catacombs, I noticed it was over very quickly. Aha, Skie was still searching for traps, and her growing Dispel Illusion ability had kicked in:

This part of the place and the next were super easy but the final cavern was not. My troubles started when Prat saw Kagain as Kagain was moving to the right in order to make a tour and kill off all the spiders. Skie had already removed all traps and killed the basilisks.
Kagain started to fight the enemy party but failed a save against one of Bor's stunning darts:

At first, I thought of trying to save him, but I soon understood that it would be too dangerous. They are two mages, two warriors, two lesser air elementals (this is SCS v21, the newest versions do not have a 'Tougher Chapter 6 end battle') plus a couple of Phase Spiders. Nope, time to flee and regroup!
Nobody followed all the way past the basilisk area, so I resurrected Kagain there. Imoen made him invisible so he could go pick up his stuff (right-click on ground and pick up stuff via inventory screen). He found two lone spiders and killed them.
Skie had been scouting for Kagain, but now she failed her stealth at a really bad time. Sakul saw her and entered the area where my party was, both elementals alongside. Then this came flying:

No matter how we move now, there is no way to know for sure who other than Skie that will need to make a save here. And Skie WILL need to, otherwise she is as good as dead. Okay, I can't have more setbacks here! Martha digged in her potion case, distributed Magic Blocking potions to all four of us to drink. The short duration makes them of little use for other than this type of "oops! fixer". Will also be nice to have a few rounds where Sakul is much less of a threat.
Hm, I didn't know you can poison elementals...
Sakul felt the wrath of Martha's newest Bhaal power:

Skie scouted for Kagain again. Found Prat and Tam by themselves. Much less PRATtling after this, hehe:

Kagain and Skie took a bloody revenge on Bor:

Chapter seven offers three minor "quests" before it's time for the Duchal Palace. We killed Cythandria's Stone Golems with invisible blocker strategy (Imoen threw returning dagger and Eldoth used Zhalimar's halberd +2). The mage herself was softened up by spirit animals (she killed two of them with Sunfires). Most of the big damage spells were used up. Cythandria impressed Martha when she took down her Iron Skins. That's a first for me in BG1:

Undercellars next. I didn't start off so well. Imoen did hit Slythe with a Malison (Krystin was probably out of range, alas) but he saved (or rolled positively for his Magic Resistance) against two Emotion spells. He was invisible and attacked Eldoth, who found it best to quickly gulp a potion:

Skie and Eldoth hid in the leftside rooms. Imoen pulled back to Martha. She scored with this:

It stopped him from going invisible again, but it didn't help much otherwise - he was still a tough opponent and did some hefty damage to both of them. Don't ask me why they didn't have Iron-/Stoneskins up, because I have no good answer to that. It simply looks like a huge and stupid oversight when I look at the screenies now...
The assassin himself getting poisoned, there is some irony in that, don't you think?

Why is the guard dead? That was Krystin Lightning Bolting a Nymph in our direction. That bolt hit Martha as well but it wasn't so bad since she has 70% resistance on her gear.
Slythe fled upstairs. Kagain was given a Magic Protection potion and the task to kill Krystin. With 75% MR and excellent saves, it wasn't too bad for him but it still took a while. All those Stoneskins (including a Contingency Stoneskin), potions and whatnot.
Slythe had earlier taunted Skie about her father's death, and she had a real meltdown after Krystin was killed. Martha tried to encourage her but must have said totally the wrong things. Either that, or she didn't actually have a chance.
THEY LEFT! My jaw just dropped.

Two very competent characters that I had really found their roles for in this party. Eldoth was up there dipping in the 4th-level spells, he could ID and pickpocket practically everything and was a decent archer as well. Skie was on the verge of becoming a super thief (with a BG1 perspective) and was very close to level 11 where the real trap upgrade comes (a third trap, more damaging traps and poison damage over time).
Competence is one thing, then there were all the nifty items! Skie had the Bag of Holding but it was (thankfully!) transferred over to Martha automatically.
As far as I can remember, these are the juicier among the lost items:
Eldoth
Long Bow of Marksmanship
Halberd +2
Bardic Chain (AC 3, no pickpocket penalty, allows spellcasting)
Bracers of Archery
Gloves of Pickpocketing
Amulet of Metaspell Influence
Ring of Protection +2
Emotion scroll
Boots of Avoidance
Wand of Monster Summoning (1 charge)
Wand of Lightning (2-3 charges)
Methild's Harp (Remove Paralysis 3x/day)
A couple of Extra Healers and Invisibility potions
Skie
Eagle Bow
Long Sword +1 (no biggie, I have another)
~30 Arrows of Biting
Shadow Armor
Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise (the only pair I've seen)
Golden Girdle
Gandolar's Lucky Ring
Necklace of Missiles (but probably with only 1 charge)
Boots of Stealth (but we still have a pair of these - Eldoth stole them from that basilisk quest guy in SE BG)
Imoen's Artifact (gives +1 DEX once per day, lasts for hours)
A couple of Extra Healers and Invisibility potions
A 5-pack of Fiery Burning oils
A 4-pack of Perception potions
I'll write a shorter update later, mostly about how Martha tries to dust herself off and re-build the party.
(Oh yeah, what about Slythe? He died in Blushing Mermaid, about 2 seconds after we got there.)
Martha, half-elven Totemic Druid, abandoned in Chapter 7 by an unthankful duo, trying to rebuild a powerful party together with Imoen and Kagain
So, where does one go from here? One goes to Elfsong and picks up Garrick and Alora (both level 6) as (at least for now) meager replacements for Eldoth (level 11) end Skie (level 10). Garrick has crossbow proficiency. That goes well with the speedy crossbow in my Bag of Holding. There's some nice ammo in the Ammo Belt, too. In my base camp (Shop of Silence), I had a nice selection of useful spell scrolls for him as well.
Alora was worse off. Boots of Stealth for her, but then I had given her Dart and Scimitar proficiencies and thieving skills had heavy emphasis on sneaking and Detect Illusions. Hardly adequate for Durlag's Tower, even with potion help. And she's not even strong enough for a regular Scimitar!
I bought back Elven Chainmail from Silence, and found a Wakizashi +1 I had sold to Halbazzer earlier. It has really low STR requirement. Then I thought of something. Or someone: Safana! Haven't talked to her at all. Great, I can tailor her to be an expert trap finder. 80% FT and 40% OL is enough for all my needs as long as I have enough standard thieving potions. Leaves room for decent stealth and even starting to build a little trap setting. This can work...
On our way back to Durlag's Tower, a duo of Greater Doppelgangers was too tempting. Imoen started off with Greater Malison + Emotion from off-screen. Both saved, and they charged us. Oops, I hadn't counted on that they would notice those (non-damaging) spells. Horrors flying. Garrick cast Resist Fear just in time. Kagain faced them, but he failed his saving throw vs. spells (he has 2)...
Kagain has Boots of Speed and is very dangerous, so this was pretty bad. We ran, Kagain followed but the doppelgangers didn't. Okay, this might not be so bad after all. Kagain was focused on attacking Safana. I gave her an Oil of Speed and had Kagain chase her around an obstacle until the charm timed out. Martha then cast Chaotic Commands on him. Speed potion and Absorption potion and he could tank the doppelgangers with not too much loss of life.
Here are his buffs for the four warders battle:

As usual, I left my party by the floor entrance. Kagain gave the wine, then ran out by the wine press. Just as I wanted, only Fear followed. Kagain defeated him fast, then went into the main room and did the same with Love. Unfortunately, Avarice approached my party. Safana got into trouble:

A flock of skeletons is a good plan against Avarice. They surround him so he can't move and they are immune to his Cloudkill.

And as usual, his weapon broke after a while. Kagain battled Pride. Got him down Badly Injured but it took all five extra healers. Progress was slow against Avarice. You need magical weapons to hit him. He remains semi-invisible so you can't target him with spells. Garrick and Safana shot some magical ammunition but after a while, I left it only to Imoen and her throwing dagger. Avarice does not seem to regenerate.
Kagain had to run around a bit so his regeneration potion could work. Could take a few more rounds, then he got too hurt again. I caved in. Martha summoned her first Fire Elemental. Pride couldn't damage it, so the outcome was now secured. I got impatient with the long fight against Avarice, so Martha cast Invisibility Purge and my arcane casters slammed him with Magic Missiles.
@Jianson - to prevent excessive page loading, a lot of us use spoiler tags and only natively show the most important/interesting screenshots, You may consider it.
I believe that there had already been a discussion on this topic some time ago. I, for instance, find it much more convenient to view all the images (by nature, everything that you post is somehow "important") directly from the posts.
So long as the picture sizes are kept reasonable, it makes for a smooth and user-friendly reading experience (which is especially true for longer posts). It's definitely a matter of one's style and taste; personally, I would hate to see this practice die away.
Regards,
B.
I believe that there had already been a discussion on this topic some time ago. I, for instance, find it much more convenient to view all the images (by nature, everything that you post is somehow "important") directly from the posts.
So long as the picture sizes are kept reasonable, it makes for a smooth and user-friendly reading experience (which is especially true for longer posts). It's definitely a matter of one's style and taste; personally, I would hate to see this practice die away.
Regards,
B.
I agree with this, I also like reading them this way. However, I am probably spoiled from many years with a fast connection.
I can understand that it gets annoying if the page takes a long time to load.
I do re-save the pics as .jpg which reduces their size to something like 1/5 of the original.
I agree with this, I also like reading them this way. However, I am probably spoiled from many years with a fast connection.
I can understand that it gets annoying if the page takes a long time to load.
I do re-save the pics as .jpg which reduces their size to something like 1/5 of the original.
I also agree that there should be freedom to present the posts according to personal taste, though I have dropped the odd hint over time to people who aren't as considerate as Jianson in using jpg
.
In case I wasn't clear before, there is of course absolute freedom to post pictures as you please. If you feel you want do so in a certain way, by all means do so. I was really just mentioning what I do, which people can just take with a grain of salt.
Martha, half-elven Totemic Druid, adventuring in Chapter 7 with Imoen, Kagain, Garrick and Safana
Durlag's Tower, continued
My gang had less trouble than usual on Great Many Doors level. Most of them barricaded themselves behind closed doors in the area with the levers most of the time (great control here if you have a printed-out chart that shows which lever controls which door) while Kagain (protected from fear, charm and confusion) took out the shapeshifters. The Durlag form seemed just impossible for him to hit on non-criticals, so he just circled around those until they assumed a less dangerous form.
I usually have a great thief here that uses Boots of Speed to repeatedly backstab the Dwarven Doom Guards and Skeleton Warriors here (I allow myself to trigger that last trap once). But Safana was a little too young for that - only triple backstab damage and not enough stealth without Boots of Stealth. So we improvised:

That spell was just some extra spice. The big deal was that Kagain could reach over that gap with Spider's Bane without risk.
Safana did take out the Skeleton Warrior that carries a bow.
The main part of the next floor posed no problems. The Air Aspect was in another league, though. Kagain drank from Durlag's Goblet. It heals 100 HP but you are cursed with exceptionally bad morale for many hours. I thought that Kiel's Helmet gives you total protection from this fear, but it doesn't,
Kagain got hurt again, then he bailed:

(The Fireshield comes from a magical spear, a reward from Jaheira's druids quest. It gives you one casting per day)
Garrick calmed him down just after the Aspect died:

I did the slime room last. Next time, I think I'll finish with the ice cave instead, leaving Kaldran the Bear for last and picking up the pelts before killing Kaldran. Why? Because you can get plenty of XP by dividing and killing the Fission Slime many times. As of now, we were suddenly transported after only three slime kills:

Lightning protection was on, and after Kagain's gulping, the hiding was completed too. But I forgot the last part of my patented trifecta for fleeing the board: speed. That almost caused the end of Martha. Well, that and forgetting Iron Skins AGAIN! IDIOT!
Things got very hairy:

The danger comes from the Bishops' ability to cast Invisibility Purge, which is why being speedy is important, so you can leave before they can really attack.
At the time of the screenie, I have spent a few more Invisibility potions to hide us all. Garrick was almost boxed in but he made it out. Kagain was completely boxed in. But luckily, the party was gathered enough so we could go down anyway. Only the two Knights and one Bishop followed, but they locked three of my characters on the stairs. Situation looked stable, though, so I gave Martha a Regeneration potion (heals 60 HP) before thinking about the next step. Just when that potion had done its job, the Bishop acted:

We defeted those three, then could take out this floor at our leisure. I mean, of course the Greater Ghouls are no joke but compared to most of the Tower, this floor is pretty tame. Lots of nice loot to be had, too (even though Hard Times takes away almost all the juicy magical ammo). After completing this floor, we lured down more chess pieces. Rooks and Pawns followed first, then Queen and the other Bishop. As usual, King stayed on the board, so we confronted him. This is the first time in the campaign I have used this spell (used here mainly so we could start Magic Missiling him):

I cheesed out the Demonknight, using the knowledge I earned the last run: if it sees a character with some sort of buff when you first appear, it will cast Remove Magic. If you pop out and in, it will keep doing that, and it's just a matter of pelting it with ranged weapons. Too bad you can't use the Mirror after the fight - it makes for an interesting fight, but I didn't feel like risking it this time.
Duchal Palace
Here is my prepping:

Four strong summons, Kagain and Martha in front of the Grand Dukes. Arcane casters ready for spell action.
But how am I supposed to be able to see of what's going on here?

We couldn't save Liia but Belt was easily still above half life when we won, so it was all good. Belt sent us off but we came back to rob the place. Main floor wasn't easy, we almost got caught.
My dear Gorion, I have been to the Nashkel Mines and uncovered the source of the problems there. A Half-Orc Cleric was overseeing an operation to poison the ore. He had Kobolds to do his bidding and they, not demons, were the source of the fear that was prevalent throughout the region. The mines were four levels deep, the first two being relatively easy from a combat perspective. We conducted a reconnaissance of the entire area outside the mines before descending into them. There we rested once and were disturbed by a Winter Wolf (Imoen/2) and killed him without injury. In addition, we were attacked by two Cave Bears and, in a storage building, three War Dogs, one of which bit Jaheira in a place just behind her knee and we could not stop from bleeding before she lost consciousness. The Priest of Helm in Nashkel was able to bring her back to where we could continue our adventures. As far as Kobolds go, we destroyed two Kobold Shaman’s with Maces, four unarmed Kobold Guards, two Kobold Captains with Longbows and 25 Kobolds with Short Bow and/or Short Swords and 17 more Kobolds with Short Bow and/or Short Swords on the first two levels of the mines.
Before we descended we came across a Paladin/Cavalier named Isra who was providing protection for a man who was working on a sculpture. He’d stolen two emeralds from Nashkel and was wanted there but Isra thought his intent good enough to justify protection. It turned out that a bounty hunter, Greywolf, who I’d been mistaken for in Nashkel, showed up just as we were talking to Isra and watching this man work. Greywolf became hostile and attacked us. With Isra’s help we defeated him but sadly the sculptor died just as he finished his work of art (Minsc/2). Back in the mines, we were a bit busier on the 3rd level down, destroying our first two undead, a Ghast and a Ghoul, in addition to two Huge Spiders, four Kobold Commando’s and 31 Kobolds, all with Short Bow and/or Short Swords. (Khalid/2, Dynahier/2, Imoen/3). Four levels down, we confronted the Half-Orc Cleric with 13 Kobolds, most with Short Swords, and 11 Skeleton’s. We destroyed him and his ‘minions’ and secured a decent bounty (Merlin/2). Among the Half-Orc, Mulahey’s belongings was a letter leading us to a contact of his in Beregost. The trail leads there next.
Highlighted Event: I can never let my guard down. I keep wanting to take a breath after a strenuous battle only to find another awaits me. We battled a Ghoul and two Gray Ooze before we left the mines, then had to escape some human attackers and worgs that came after us when we emerged far to the east of the mine entrance. Finally, back in Nashkel, we stopped at the temple and store before heading for the inn. As we approached, an assassin who’d was waiting out front, hailed me and attacked. We spread out and defeated him rather easily. He carried some scrolls and throwing axes so I guess he was a fighter/mage type. Like the others he also carried a letter offering him a sum of gold to kill me.

ANOTHER ASSASSIN IN NASHKEL
Treasure of Note: Arms and armor: Halberd +1, Short Sword +1 (Imoen), Cleric Gloves (TBD); Scrolls: Skull Trap; Gems/Gold/Jewelry: 2 Emeralds (turned in), 750gps, 102gps,
Current Disposition: Resting at the Nashkel Inn, buying and selling at the Nashkel store
Next Steps: Travel to Beregost to confront Tarnesh
Level Up:
ü Imoen to Footpad and Cutpurse (Thief/Adventurer//2,3) and added 50% to her Find/Remove Traps ability (90%)
ü Minsc to Berserker/2
ü Khalid to Strider (Ranger/Archer//2)
ü Dynahier to Greater Prestidigitator (Mage/Evoker//2) selected to memorize Chromatic Orb
ü Merlin to Druidic-Sorcerer/2. Can cast one additional 1st level Druid/Sorcerer spell
ü Jaheira to Fighter/Druid (Priestess of Silvanus) 1/2 Can cast one additional 1st level Druid spell (??????)
Current Party: (Reputation: 11 - Average)
Merlin: Druidic-Sorcerer//2; sling +1* and Quarter Staff* (Diseased Gibberling)
Minsc: Fighter/Berserker//2; Plate Mail, two-handed sword** (Two-Handed Weapon Style**) (Hairtooth) (Spellcaster defend)
NPC Closeup (Imoen)
Imoen: Thief/Adventurer//3; leather armor, short bow* and short sword* (Karlat) (Thief defensive)

IMOEN CHARACTER RECORD
IMOEN INVENTORY
Khalid: Ranger/Archer//2; Studded Leather, Long Bow*** and Bastard Sword* (Winter Wolf) (Ranger ranged)
Jaheira: Fighter/Druid (Priestess of Silvanus) 1/2; Studded leather, Quarter Staff* and Club*, (War Dog) (Druid offensive/defensive)
Dynahier: Mage/Invoker//2; Bracers of Defense AC8 with Dart*; (None) (Wizard Defensive)
Mods Used: BG 5512; ToB Patch 26498; ToBEx Beta 0026; BG2 Fixpack (v)10; BGT 118; Dark Side of the Sword Coast (v)2.17; Northern Tales of the Sword Coast (v)170; Northern Tales of the Sword Coast (v)171; Secret of Bonehill (v)2.75; Drizzt Saga (v)3; Lure of Sirine’s Call (v)13; Thalantyr Item Upgrade; BG1 NPC Project (v)22; Indira NPC (v)10.4; Gavin NPC (v)9; BG1 UB (v)13.1; BGSpawn (v)1.12; The White Queen (v)4.1; Amber NPC (v)4; Isra NPC (v)2.1; Fade NPC (v)4.0; Valen NPC (v)45; Auren Aseph (v)9; Sarah NPC (v)3.1; Haldimir NPC (v)2; Tyris Flare (v)7; Hotfix for Gavin BG2 (v) 20; Gavin NPC BG2 (v)20; de’Arnise Romance (v)4; IEP Extended Banter (v)4.2; Viconia Friendship SoA & ToB (v)3.3; Mazzy’s Friendship SoA & ToB (v)2.2; Yoshimo Friendship SoA & ToB (v)3.1; Imoen Friendship SoA & ToB (v)2.2; BG2 UB (v)26; Chosen of Mystra BGII Subrace; SCS (v)30 (minus tactical challenges); P&P Celestials (v)5; NPC Flirt Pack (v)1.03; Romantic Encounters (v)9; Cross Banter Mod Pack for BG2II (v)15; NPC Kit Pack (v)4; Song & Silence Mod for Bards & Thieves (v)6; Divine Remix (Beta)(v)8; Paladins of Faerun Kit Pack (v)4; Sword & Fist (v)7; Rogue Rebalancing (v)4.80; BGT Tweaks (v)11; BG2 Tweak Pack (v)16; Hard Times for BGTv2.4;
Item Randomizer (v)6.8; Mega Mod Kits (v)1.01L; Level 1 NPCs (v)1.9; BP BGT Maps (v)10.2.1
Blue Font: New information;
Red Font: Monster encounters (first use)
(Best kill)(Current AI)
@CKT
Good to see you up and running again. ![]()
Martha, half-elven Totemic Druid, adventuring in Chapter 7 with Imoen, Kagain, Garrick and Safana
We arrived at Ulgoth's Beard with the whole party invisible. Party went south, then sent in buffed summons and Kagain to fight the first cultist pack. That went so well that some summons were still alive, so I sent them towards the cultists' building. But then the summons started to chase commoners and killed one (them being hostile is a leftover from our fight with Dushai). Hm, I thought I had "herded" all of the hostile ones either into buildings or further south. Guess not.
Anyway, I found it best to quickly leave the map so that the summons would expire. Donated to temple a bit, then returned. Then we ran afoul of an obnoxious gnome that actually caused us more trouble than many of the Durlag's Tower enemies. Geez...

The Emotion was actually a good thing for us here. Better that they are unconscious than attacking each other. Pretty expected that it was the two characters with the best spell saves that shrugged off those spells (Imoen wears Claw of Kazgaroth). Delsvi is worth 975 XP and killing him didn't make us lose any reputation.
Decided to avoid summons this time. Kagain took out most of the next cultist packs. The Wizard was quite tough, but that was to be expected. Safana entered the basement in shadows and tried to pick off the cultists (in my setup, they only fight back in melee, and Tracea Carol does not react to the fighting noises, so it's possible to get cheesy here). Problem was, Safana was not a good enough archer. Could only hit on criticals. Even with four 120-packs of arrows, this wasn't going to fly. Martha cast Wondrous Recall and Pixie Dust (the latter recalled by the WR) so that it hit Imoen. Imoen went downstairs and took over the fighting. She could also only hit on criticals, but the difference is that her throwing dagger is unlimited (and hits harder, too). I got bored with the slow progress so I used up most of her damage- and disabling spells. Even tried wands of polymorph (they saved every time) and paralyzation (some failed saves here, followed by a light-up effect but no paralyzation (do they have permanent free action?)). All six of them eventually died, leaving only Tracea Carol and a Cult Archer that had fled from Kagain earlier.
Safana hid in shadows and went outside. Imoen cast Invisibility on herself. Safana got down the stairs and met Tracea Carol, then fled up the stairs. Usually, Tracea will follow and the demon stay behind. This time, it was the other way around, Oops. Scary meeting upstairs!
Fortunately, the demon's opening move was a Silence on Safana. Since she managed to get out and immediately hide, the silence only hurt her vanity...
Problem was, Kagain was too close:

Hm, should he drink Mirrored Eyes or Invisibility? I chose the latter, because it conveniently allowed him to go down and fight Tracea. ![]()
During that fight, something very nice happened:

That's right, Imoen transformed into an official bad*ss, a level 9 Thief -> level 10 Conjurer. After Tracea Carol was killed, Imoen went outside, scouted the area for innocents, saw none, took a good position, released a Cloudkill, immediately hid in shadows and a few seconds later, Aec'Letec was banished.
Some loose ends left, in the form of NPC quests. Did Xan's first. This time, I was detemined to have Xan survive it, so he was Pixie Dusted and left outside nearly the whole fight (dude has less than 20 HP and only Mirror Image to protect himself with, so what choice is there?). Imoen was the spokesperson, because I figured she'd be able to hide before running out of Stoneskins:

This is really nasty if you aren't prepared. All six guards have composite long bows and acid arrows and the three merchants have nasty darts. Wise from the failure against Bor, Kagain drank a Magic Shielding potion (=> all saves are made automatically). He didn't take that much damage from the nine people attacking him (they needed criticals to hit). The rest of my party assisted with summons and disabling spells from off-screen. Cool end to this if you win, Xan gets groupies! "Oh, Moonblade wielder!", etc. and later back at the FAI he gets hit by a Draw Upon Holy Might and gains 10k XP.
I solved Coran's Amelia quest the peaceful way. Give her what she wants but demand that she releases her two male prisoners and also demand a reward. This is more beneficial than fighting her. I still may consider fighting her in later campaigns because later versions tone her down. Amelia's reward is pretty darn good, only not for this party:

I recruited Viconia for the endgame. Magic Protection potions are essentially (in BG1 at least) Magic Immunity potions for her, and she sure can tank pretty well if you give her good gear and a Fortitude potion.
We lucked out a bit against the Undercity party. When Kagain was on an undead killing tour, Rahvin and Haseo found him, he ran and only those two followed. Haseo was super tough for him to hit so Imoen came to the rescue with Malison + Feeblemind. Worked perfectly.
Shaldrissa put up a very good fight. I'd say she is on par with Krystin.
Final battle
Not sure if this always happens in my setup: Tazok started off by gulping fire resist and absorption potions and Diarmid (once he was brought in by Sarevok when you get close enough) read a Protection from Magic scroll. Of the five, only Diarmid and Sarevok started off visible.
Imoen stealth bombed the throne area with:
3 Fireballs (powerful ones, maxed damage (10 d6))
7 Exploding Potions
2 Fiery oils
a Cloudkill
a Chaos (which did very little, just caused one hit from Diarmid to a skeleton warrior)
a Skull Trap (OK, this wasn't her, it was Garrick)
another Fireball cast from scroll that an invisible Safana had looted from Semaj's corpse. She also found a Ring of Protection +3!
2 Arrows of Detonation fired from as much shadow/range as possible
Halfway through the bombing, I decided that it would work even better if I wait out that PfMagic scroll. So I did. Here is the third man going down even before anyone has started to fight us:

The skeleton warriors eventually moved around a bit, found heavily armored Kagain and lost to him and the rest of the party.
I hadn't seen Angelo (or seen him being hit by by spells or fire) yet, so I figured he must be off to the right a bit. Martha summoned a fire elemental to keep Sarevok busy while she and Imoen reduced his saves by 6. Kagain fired a barrage of polymorph bolts at him (even though Kagain is unproficient with crossbow, he's better with it than Garrick). He needed a couple of rounds before scoring a bolt that both hit Sarevok, bypassed his MR and his save. We could now concentrate on Angelo:

He put up a good fight. He even caused a 5th death for Imoen (Flame Arrow, from full life, the very round after her Magic Blocking potion had timed out - b*stard!). Viconia pulled back, raised her with my last scroll, and healed her. Imoen made herself invisible and reclaimed her gear.
Now that I was so close, and even though Martha wanted to get involved, she still didn't want to take chances. She activated Greenstone Amulet and became more active. I have no idea why this didn't cause damage to Angelo:

His Minor Globe had timed out, and Martha did get a large HP boost from this spell, but no damage was registered. Weird...
When Squirrel Sarevok was down to Badly Injured, Imoen backstabbed him with the Staff of Striking for 48 damage but he was still not dead. A fitting end to him that a spirit summon got the last laugh:

Martha and Imoen will see you in the other thread.
Congratulations and well done Jianson !! ![]()
The Chronicles of the Moonblade
The red text has been posted before but was quite some time ago, so I have re-posted that part.
Being brought up in Candlekeep, I came across a very wide variety of personages, some of whom were decidedly strange. None came stranger than a seeress who visited when I was about twelve years of age. She carried with her in protective wrapping an object which had every appearance of being a sword.
I had heard many prophecies in the great hall, but none had affected me like the one she gave that eve.
“They call you Trouble for that is who you are. You will be Trouble for many, both Evil and Good. Yet you will also bring peace to many. This blade is for you. You will try and try again to acquire it, but it will be beyond your reach until the day that you need it. On that day it will fall into your hands and you will possess it and it shall possess you.”
She then let it fall from the wrappings into a chest and proceeded to lock it. I felt as if the seeress were talking directly to me, yet she gave no indication that she were doing so. True people did call me trouble, saying such things as, “What has Trouble been up to today then?” However, I was also well aware that other children were similarly addressed and so thought little of it.
Like many other children, I attempted to open that chest, but I was unable to do so.
Many years passed after that day, but the day that Gorion took me from Candlekeep brought everything clearly back to my memory.
Gorion told me to equip myself, but didn’t even give me sufficient gold to buy splint mail. I therefore opened a chest at the inn and found not only some gold, but also a potion of clarity. I went to the innkeeper and bought the splint mail, a helmet, some arrows and some crossbow bolts before going back upstairs.
I tried another chest and saw in it some more gold and a ring. However I took nothing as a shout told me that I had been spotted. The guard said that the fine for stealing would be all of my gold. I only had one gold piece and so gave it to him. Whether he put it in the treasury or kept it for himself I have no idea.
I knew that if nothing else, I needed enough gold to equip myself with swords and so I opened another chest. I had taken a necklace and a pearl when once again I was caught. Clearly I am not cut out to be a thief.
This guard demanded that I should allow myself to be whipped. Knowing full well that I deserved it I allowed him to severely beat me. What he did then is best passed over, but he certainly took full advantage of his position. The fact that I found it pleasurable does not mean that what he did was right!
I sold the gems and bought a couple of swords before performing a variety of chores all of which were poorly paid. In a very short space of time I was attacked by assassins again and again. Having stripped them of all that could be of use, I found that I had acquired a robe, a pair of bracers and a long sword +1. I put my previous equipment in a bag and donned the new before discovering that one of the assassins had stolen the blade from the chest.
Even after all that time I recognised it immediately. It was a Moonblade, the Moonblade that the seer had put in the chest when I was twelve. Remembering her words I took it and her words were fulfilled. I took possession of it, and it took possession of me.
There were a few items in the thieves’ possession that I stored in a bag. I gave all my gold to the temple gaining two reputation points, and helping Linda and Sir Trun raised my reputation yet further.
As you have probably already heard from other sources, Gorion was killed protecting me. I arranged for his burial before following his instructions by heading for the Friendly Arms Inn.
There I fought against another assassin called Tarnesh who was a mage. I managed to cast “Sleep” before he cast anything that affected me with the result that I was able to kill him easily.
Inside another adventurer called Quentin helped relieve me of the stress of the day.
“Sleep” proved to be effective against some hobgoblins in the same area. I then headed northwards and managed to resolve the conflict between a widow and a zombie husband and between the fishermen and Tenya, a priestess of Umberlee.
I was also able to kill a nearby Ankheg using the sleep spell.
Thinking about it afterwards, I realised that the prophecy was already come to pass. The blade had come into my possession when I wasn’t looking for it. I had certainly brought trouble to those who were evil, and “You will also bring peace to many,” had also come to pass in measure. I suppose that indirectly the death of Gorion was a fulfilment of that same prophecy.
I then headed southwards towards Nashkel, helping Marl to come to terms with his son’s death and taking a tome to Firebead.
Just south of there, I killed two Ogrillon after putting one of them to sleep.
In Nashkel I found some Ankheg armour, spoke to Noober and once more relieved my stress, this time in the arms of Bardolan.
Lord Foreshadow gave me a useful ring which makes a big difference to my charisma.
I was able to help Mellicamp and that led to us having an enjoyable picnic together followed by some chaste kissing.
I then helped the archaeologist and Brage followed by doing some babysitting in Nashkel. I have now reached my goal of becoming a hero.
I was attacked by Neira, yet another assassin in Nashkel. When my sleep spell failed I ran outside, only to be followed by him. I quickly cast invisibility after which I left the battle to the Amnish Guard. They got the experience, but at least I didn't get hurt. ![]()
On the way to find Prism, I was attacked by a powerful assassin. Not quite powerful enough to survive.
Upon crossing Greywolf, he attacked only to find that there are better fighters than he around. Mind you, it took all of my healing potions to survive.
Invisibility came in very handy as it gave a chance for healing and casting spells.
I then went hunting Ankheg using sleep a lot. I did have to run from time to time however, but in the end prevailed.
Having sold the shells, I was rich enough to buy better equipment plus some spells. I then joined up with Xzar and Montaron for a while. Montaron acquired a ring of freedom of action plus some spells including web. Then knowing that they wanted to go to Nashkel, I accompanied them there and left them there.
I then went to the gnoll fortress, killed some ogres and assassins, one of whom was difficult to kill due to being an excellent thief. Nevertheless, I prevailed, but being badly hurt I retreated to the Carnival where I licked my wounds and identified the loot.
I then continued my mission to clear the roads of bandits and killed many hobgoblins and bandits, not to mention Tristan and Isolde, the two assassins. Web kept them from doing me serious hurt.
Sleep was enough to deal with the ogre with a belt fetish.
Going down Nashkel mines was straightforward. Web caught the assassins and I could then use the wand of fire. Just before it expired I switched to the necklace of missiles. When I thought all of them were dead, I moved forward and found yet another who was webbed. He was easy to kill. I picked up the loot and moved on and once I was in need of healing, retraced my steps to the carnival. I rested, healed and identified items after which I returned Joseph's ring to his widow.
I then returned and came across Mulahey. I blinded him, so thought myself safe from his spells.
A misconception! He cast rigid thinking which was almost deadly.
His minions attacked and though I killed some of them, others whittled my health points down to three!
Needless to say, the first voluntary action I took was to gulp down a potion of extra healing. I then finished off the kobolds, picked up the loot, and consumed two potions of normal healing.
To be continued.
Having just succesfully fought a final battle, I felt ready to do the same with Glasya's party. Glasya is a Sorceress with super stats but she is still a preatty weak protagonist because all her spell picks are done at random (with equal chance of all possible outcomes). By the time of the final battle, she was hanging out with Imoen (still a Thief, level 11), Branwen (lvl 9), Minsc (lvl 9), Coran (lvl 7/9) and Xzar (lvl 7, replacement mage after Dynaheir turned permanently hostile when I did not show Cythandria mercy (the readme of the latest SCS release tells me that this issue has been fixed - nice!)).
Here are the earlier reports for Glasya, for those who are interested. This girl was lucky to surive so many Near Death situations, that's for sure! Two of the worst were being struck by lightning within an inch of her life, and nearly poisoned to death by phase spiders in the BG sewers.
Which leaves us by the Temple of Bhaal.
I took some screenies in this fight, but in the whole mess of reinstalling mods and such, I failed to take care of them. So they got deleted. Oops. Sorry.
Compared to Martha's party, Glasya's had fewer means to make themselves invisible and less bombing firepower, but they had more magic protection potions and more capable warriors overall. The initial bombing of the throne area killed off Semaj but a careless move from Xzar sent Sarevok after him, followed by Diarmid. Xzar was 1-hit killed by Sarevok. Darn, and he had only just started casting all of his spells. We had no means to resurrect him (since we can't rest in the middle of the fight, otherwise Branwen could have done it) so now it was up to Glasya for all the arcane magic (spells, scrolls and wands). Branwen animated dead by the two enemies (they were a bit to the right, pretty close to the temple entrance) so they'd be occupied a few rounds while the rest of us backed out of their sight. This worked, they lost track of us. Diarmid was pretty hurt. Coran tentatively fired Bolts of Biting from the shadows, eventually killing him. One poison bolt stuck - that poison is DAMN powerful!
Branwen searched for Angelo, with Magic Protection potion ready (and Cloak of Balduran on). Found him and started to fight. Minsc (Speeded from an oil) fired Arrows of Ice at Angelo. Mixed success with that. Angelo cast Chaos at Minsc twice and Minsc saved himself with Magic Shielding potion both times (Angelo used Removed Magic to remove the effect before casting the second Chaos). Meanwhile, Coran put an end to Angelo's Mirror Image and Improved Invisibility with his awesome detect skill, then added bolts to the mix. Emotion came flying but Coran was ready with Clarity potion. Glasya had already prepared with a Greenstone Amulet charge, just in case.
Angelo was defeated. Branwen, Minsc and Coran fought the resulting skeleton warrior in melee. Calls for Help works for these guys, so this fighting brought in Semaj's and Diarmid's skeletons as well. Diarmid's was an archer. It hit Coran, but he hid behind a pillar, then quickly circled around it and pushed it towards the wall. After all those bones were crushed, they healed up a bit and Imoen scouted out Sarevok. Turns out Tazok was with him.
Glasya started a Monster Summoning I storm. Those monsters are very weak (hobgoblins and wild dogs are the toughest among them) but she gets a ton of them (BG1-style summoning spells, so one use of the spell conjures up ~8 critters). I tried the polymorph Sarevok plan here as well, but he remained his usual self through all of Coran's ~20 polymorph bolts. All the hits still damaged him, of course, and when Branwen added two Holy Smites and both Imoen and Minsc (after he had killed Tazok and his skeleton) started to launch arrows, he was soon in trouble. Just after the fourth (and last remaining) Monster Summoning I, he was killed. Yay!
BG2, here we come. Of course, getting this goofy character far in BG2 will be very hard, especially since I haven't seen more than a tiny part of what SCS makes with it. I am also very rusty on BG2. And I've played to the end of ToB exactly once (vanilla version, needed one or two reloads for the ToB part, if I remember correctly).
Glasya is close to level 11, though. She may actually reach that in the starting dungeon. I'm excited about this because it's one of the most significant level-ups for a Sorcerer, with more spell picks (4) than on any other level-up.
Upon leaving the mines I was given a knife. I killed a revenant and several undead picking up some useful items as I did so. I was attacked by Narcillicus who took some killing, but he fell eventually.
After picking up the reward in Nashkel I headed north again killing various monsters on the way. A party of assassins just south of the Friendly Arms hurt me badly, but nowhere nearly as badly as I hurt them. There was a thief who kept taking invisibility potions and then backstabbed me. He won't be stabbing anyone else again.
I then went to the bandit camp, avoided fighting Tazok by going invisible and headed south where I fought Brotus Bloodthirsty and his cohorts.
After such a fight, needless to say, I rested and went to Tazok's tent where I cast web which eliminated enough of the opposition to defeat the rest using my wand of fire, plus a few healing potions.
Upon leaving, I was set upon by Taugosz and a host of bandits,
It turned out to be more than drinking a pint of ale together.
I was then surprised as I left because a group of good guys with misconceptions attacked me.
I had to hide in order to escape
I then went to an area infested by basilisks, Medusae and the like. Mutamin also died.
In Cloakwood, I was attacked by druids
After healing, I proceeded to an area infested with spiders. I was unable to get my spells off in time and almost joined Chelak wherever he is. Despite taking anti-poison potions, repeated attacks brought me to the brink of death.
After healing, I took on a dragon, albeit a small one. To my amazement, it was far less dangerous than the spiders.
As I moved to the next area, I was attacked by more assassins, Lamalha and others.
After defeating them, I was attacked by wyverns who also perished.
This caused me to be less fearful about facing them in their lair.
I returned to the temple for my reward and near there was attacked by Davenport, another assassin.
A letter on his body led me to the source of some of the attacks which lay in a secret base in Beregost.
Area spells were ideal for killing large numbers simultaneously.
And using invisibility I reached the source of the attacks.
This brought me a lot of experience.
I killed more of the cult on the way out. They were not expecting me, but occasionally sheer numbers were enough to leave me badly wounded.
I then visited Durlag’s Tower.
There after telling Kirinhale that I would do her bidding, I wa able to do a surprise attack on her and so prevailed.
I killed a ghost.
Before going to the depths.
I then proceeded to my main quest, the Cloakwood Mines. At the entrance web and area spells proved effective.
And on the way down I killed a mage and her troops despite being affected by a chaos spell.
Natasha, another mage was less of her problem due to being webbed.
Then at the lowest level I fought first of all, Morgan and then Davaeorn.
I was then able to proceed to Baldur’s Gate where more assassins attacked me.
I was then requested to recover the Stone of Askavaar which I did after many battles, some of which were dangerous in the extreme.
I discovered that the stone was to be found near the bandit camp, and there I was once again attacked first by Tazok, and then his cronies.
I retrieved the stone at last, though the battle to get it was tough.
The reward however was substantial.
I was then given another quest that proved to be difficult, but sufficient people joined me to make it possible.
I killed a banshee,
A dragon,
And heading back north, a horde of orcs.
After doing a few minor quests in Baldur’s Gate, I returned to Candlekeep where many of my chief enemies were located.
Those that I fought, I killed.
Though once again spiders were the bane of my life
Medusae were less of a problem.
Upon returning to Baldur’s Gate, I fought Cythandra and her cohorts.
Before confronting Slythe and Krystin.
I fled from them into the sewers where I was able to use my magical powers more freely.
This enabled me to level up.
I was then given the task of removing a curse from Brielbara’s baby, and in the course of doing that was attacked by Desreta.
Meeting Schvantz after that was very pleasant and he reduced my stress levels considerably.
I then went to rescue a duke
Before confronting Saverok.
Once I had sent him packing I decided to finish the job at Durlag’s with the help of Thorin.
The Demonknight was killed by his own image
But I was the attacked by more assassins.
I returned to Ulgoth’s Beard with the dagger only to be ambushed once more. That turned out to be a battle from which I was forced to flee.
I then decided to finish a job off at the gnoll stronghold which turned out to be a mistake. The xvart shamans and the sheer numbers of them was too much for me.
Once again I don’t know what killed me there. I suspect a death spell as my health plummeted after being OK.
@CKT
Good to see you up and running again.
Thank you so much GtW. Unfortunately, I've got buyers remorse with this PC now. I read a little more and I should have played him as a Druid-Diviner. Merlin is always telling the future and seeing things that are yet to be. That kinda stuff eats at me. Ugh.
Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 98 - (1st and final update)
Lira, elf beast master (Grond0) & Nauhh, half-orc fighter (Gate70)
It's just conceivable that someone will look at the title to this run and say "good god how many times have they lostwhat happened to attempt 97?". Well, that's another story - or, actually, I suppose it is the beginning of this story, so to summarise ...
A wizard slayer and his trusty inquisitor sidekick started off as normal by killing Shoal before going down to Nashkel to pick up some armour. Moving on to Meilum the intention was to shoot him to within an inch of his life, but the inch was on the other foot to mix a metaphor. The game had suddenly gone extremely laggy and my wizardslayer didn't react in time to Meilum jumping in to get an attack - and the game over screen resulted. The wizard slayer actually had the XP for L3, but had not yet levelled up and only had 19 HPs. Checking Meilum's stats his maximum damage was boosted to 20 due to the use of his bracers - those that have killed so many enemies were thus fatal to us this time
.
Rolling up another pair of random classes produced a beast master and a fighter. Time was short for them, but they had just enough to repeat the progress of their predecessors up to encountering Meilum. This time though there was a happier ending ...
Lira, beast master 3, 39 HPs (incl. 6 from familiar), 21 kills
Nauhh, fighter 3, 35 HPs, 11 kills, 0 deaths
Ok, with the Easter holidays coming - here we go:
Meet Uther Law, a halfling fighter/cleric.
Originaly, he was meant to be a dwarf but the portrait I found is perfect for a halfling.
His teammates:
Draque Gorki, a dwarf barbarian:
Leina Grey, a sorceress.
And Inees Dim, a gnome illusionist/thief: (not your usual, she has no less than 3 banned schools)
Weidu:
In short, Revisions, Refinements, SCS, Ascension, the whole shebang - full prebuff for AI, all casters gain HLAs which are memorized as innates, yada yada.
I also implemented some of my own tweaks - namely XP progression (same rate for everyone, which equals to 170% of thieves' level progression), revised critical hits and this.
In short, this removes Spell Immunity: Abjuration from the game, and turns it into a 1-shot protection from Dispels or Breach attempts. It has an AoE, but is automatically removed by any kind of dispel.
More about this later - when we get access to it.
We started of doing Beregost + area just south of Beregost quests, then Ankhegs and killed Dushai (I'm not overly concerned about alignment etc.)
She died so quickly that no one went hostile.
With Wand of Fire, I went to clear basilisk area for a quick XP boost. To preserve wand charges, I gathered them in large groups and bombarded them with fireballs.
We suffered our first death there, Inees died to an arrow. All was fine in the end, the enemies were easy pickings since they had only a slew of HP remaining after being hit by two fireballs.
While I still had scorcher charges on Wand, we went to Durlag's to clear out to top and first bottom floor. No problem there, and I left the place w/o fighting the guardian statues -they're way to difficult in this install to defeat and pose a chunking threat.
Following that, we cleared out most of wilderness areas w/o much trouble. Bazil ate some magic, most of the other scum was meleed.
Next, some more XP boosting in less than valiant ways:
In Ulcaster, we braved a ghost (it's from BG1UB). He has an Energy Drain melee hit, but he couldn't actually hit anyone. ![]()
With that done and 2nd Wand of Fire aquired, back to main plot. Mulahey - pre-set Skull Traps for his summons, and melee for him.
Had a close call just above the ground - a nasty backstab with +4 (doubled to +8) damage for having ranged weapon equiped...sigh.
I used Wand of Paralyzation on her, and battle went smoothly from there on.
Bandit camp - same as usual- buy Flame potions, bombard everything.
Cloakwood was pretty straightforward, up to Kysus&the gang. This was rather long, with few near-death experiences, but we pulled through. I managed to hold one of the mages with Paralyzation wand, which helped a lot to reduce the damage we were taking.
They also scored an epic Hold spell...
Davaeorn was nasty. I didn't use Pro Magic scrolls here, which was a mistake, since you don't need as much as you can get in BG1. Bleh - cost healing potions instead.
Luckily, he DD-away leaving us some room to kill of Horrors.
Then the blasting continued while we chased him around. I had no spell removals to get rid of his MGoI, which made magic attacks useless vs him.
His stoneskins didn't last forever, and after wasting his entire spellbook (and going in melee) he finally died.
Uther Law, 2nd BG1 update
BG city was done quickly, one battle worth mentioning was Iron Throne. I usually avoid it, but this time I wanted 2nd Ring of Free Action for my barbarian hence I fought them. Barbarian won the battle alone with Detonation arrows and quite a few invisibility potions.
He finished melee-style.
I avoided most of city quests, killed the priests for WIS tome, reported back to militia, and we were back in Candlekeep. Prat's gang got hit by Dispel Magic from my sorceress, removing all their prebuffs instantly. We won the battle easilly.
(as a sidenote, Spell Revisions removes the original "Dispel Magic" from mages. You got "Dispel Magic" but it works same as vanilla "Remove", affects only enemies.)
Back to city, I kill Slythe (Pro Magic scroll on backstab-immune barbarian makes this a cakewalk) and we run to the palace.
I knew I'd have trouble here - and I was right. First Inees suffers a huge backstab, leaving her with one HP. Next one would chunk her (no clean aura) but Dope Mage finishes her before it hit. ![]()
Whole battle lasted a while, but with Dope Mage getting dispelled and forced to play defensively, we pulled through. Liia died.
Sarevok - pretty standard. Angelo pokes his head - Paralyzation wand 'till it sticks.
With him gone, Detonation arrows + Invisibility potions. Only Tazok can die to those (Semaj's MGoI makes those innefective) but that's fine. I use summons to have him waste his spells. LOT of summons. ![]()
Next I hit him with Paralyzation, and wave him goodbye.
Now there were only Sarevok and Diramid. I focus Diramid in melee and let summons keep Sarevok busy, while barbarian kills skeleton warriors.
It's a quick road downhill for Sarevok from this point on.
Uther Law will enter BG2 part soon.