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[Thailog]

As per the instructions in the No Reload Challenge thread, I'm opening up a new topic to further chronicle the exploits of my main character who got killed during his No Reload run. Of course, everyone else is free to post the stories of their characters who have suffered a similar fate here as well. Anyways, I've set up a couple of rules for the challenge, 90% of which are identical to those in the No Reload thread.


1. Try to limit your reloads as much as possible and always keep track of the number of times that you've had to reload the game. In your initial post, state your own rules which determine when you can reload the game. For example, in addition to suffering the death of the main character, you may decide that reloading is also fine if one of your NPCs gets perma-killed (i.e. by a disintegrate spell or such). The important thing is to set the rules clearly in your initial post and then stick to them for the duration of your playthrough.

2. Be informative of what changes you make, so that those so inclined can judge the merits of your run. Multi-player NPCs are allowed.

3. Play on "Core Rules"; this may make spell memorization and gaining HPs somewhat interesting. Optional: if you so choose you can put the slider back during level-up to get maximum HPs and/or 100% spell memorization. But don't forget to change it back to core rules!

4. If you want to use the console to add in a bag of holding, feel free. Not many people like playing the "inventory management game."

5. If you want to skip the opening dungeon, you can use the Dungeon-Be-Gone mod.

6. Post your mods and character stats (abilities) on your initial post and any changes you might have made with Shadow Keeper.

7. Post intermittent progress reports about your progress through SOA.

8. Clearly post when your PC has died.

9. Have fun!

Modifié par Thailog, 13 septembre 2010 - 05:17 .

[Thailog]

Chronicles of Gar, the Half-Orc Assassin


Mods:

BG2 Fixpack - installed everything
One Pixel Productions - everything except the potion component
Unfinished Business - Kalah's promise, Restored Encounters, Xzar's Creations, Item Restorations, Restored Bhaalpowers
Banter Pack - installed everything
IEP Banters - installed everything
Quest Pack - installed everything
Expanded Thief Stronghold - installed everything
Divine Remix - all remix components and the Nightcloak of Shar kit for Viconia
Rogue Rebalancing - installed everything
aTweaks - installed everything
BG2 Tweaks - Unlimited potion/gem/arrow stacking, More Interjections, 100% Spell Learning, Maximum HP, P&P spell and THAC0 progression tables, Happy Patch...
P&P Free Action - installed everything
Level 1 NPCs - Minsc is a proper Berserker, Valygar's an Archer, Jan becomes a Jester and Viconia is now a Fighter/Nightcloak of Shar multi-class


Reload rules:

I will reload when the main character dies or when one of the party members gets perma-killed (i.e. by a disintegrate spell). Nothing else will warrant a reload in this playthrough.


Reloads so far:

1 - Main char killed by Tolgerias at the planar sphere


Party setup:

Gar - Assassin(14)
Minsc - Berserker(12)
Viconia - Fighter(10)/Nightcloak of Shar(10)
Valygar - Archer(12)
Jan - Jester(14)
Edwin - Conjurer(12)


When we last left Gar, he and his party had a pretty nasty encounter with Tolgerias which resulted in their first reload. This time around, Gar is much more careful and stays out of the wizard's sight leaving Valygar, Viconia and Minsc to deal with Tolgerias and his apprentice while Edwin and Jan support them with area effect spells. The apprentice falls easily to Viconia's Flail of Ages since its elemental damage passes through the mageling's stoneskin and keeps disrupting his magic. His master, on the other hand, is a tough bastard. He instantly buffs with a bunch of defensive spells and drops a Horrid Wilting on Minsc and Valygar. Fortunately, both of them survive, thanks to the Girdle of Inertial Barrier on Minsc and Valygar's magic damage resistant family armor. Edwin manages to breach Tolgerias' defenses after which Viconia and Valygar keep disrupting the his spells until Minsc finishes the wizard off with a few powerful swings from his twohander. In the next two rooms, the party faces off against a number of fire and ice creatures emerging victorious without too much trouble. They finally reach the machine which powers the sphere but it is guarded by a bunch of golems. Remembering his experience from Nalia's keep, Valygar equips Tansheron's bow and shoots the constructs from a safe distance using the Iron Golems' size against them. The remaining clay golems are no problem for Viconia who once again makes good use of her Stonesmasher club. After the area is secured, Gar puts the demon's heart into the machine and the sphere returns to Atkhatla. Lavok is granted his last wish and Gar brings him outside so that he may die under the sky of his home plane. Although Valygar's vow is now fulfilled, but the archer decides to remain with Gar and support him in his own quest.

Encouraged by the defeat of Tolgerias, Gar thinks that the party may now be strong enough to face Irenicus. However, due to his recent fallout with Renal over the guild business, he is not too keen on asking the Shadow Thieves for their help. Instead, he opts to meet with a mysterious figure in the Graveyard District at midnight. The pale faced woman introduces herself as Bodhi and initially refuses to help Gar on the account that he is too much like the Shadow Thieves. However, the half-orc uses his newly boosted charisma (from the Ring of Human Influence) to convince her otherwise, claiming that he has no qualms about betraying the thieves, which actually isn't far from the truth. Bodhi is satisfied for now, but she asks Gar to prove his intentions by bringing her a special shipment which a shadow thief named Mook is expecting at the docks. Gar, Viconia and Jan gain a level and the party decides to explore the catacombs beneath the graveyard because Edwin mentioned something about a powerful artifact being buried there. On their way down, the group explores Bodhi's lair and finds a Mace of Disruption in a pool of blood. While exploring the crypts, the party eventually stumbles across a spider lair, complete with a drow priestess who attacks them despite Viconia's presence. Edwin casts a fireball which scorches the priestess' spider minions. Minsc gets slightly burnt too, though Edwin claims that this was completely unintended. Viconia recovers a spider figurine from the priestess' corpse while Edwin grabs the Spider Spawn and Spell Immunity scrolls as well as an Ioun Stone. The party enters a secluded crypt where Viconia gets to test her shiny Mace of Disruption which performs quite nicely against various undead creatures. At the end of the corridor, the group encounters an old lich who has a Nether scroll that Edwin wants. The undead spellcaster falls surprisingly easy and Edwin gets his prize, promising to use it for the benefit of the party.

The group returns to the surface and dispatches a Crypt King along with some Mummies and Skeleton Warriors that were occupying the upper crypts. Edwin finds a scroll of Spell Trigger in one of the coffins and Minsc levels up after freeing a man who was apparently buried alive. The righteous warrior promises to find and punish the perpetrators and the party proceeds to the bridge district after a short but informative chat with the gravekeeper. On the way, the group is ambushed by some bandits who barely live long enough to regret their decision. Gar tracks down ones responsible for the burial and Minsc dispenses righteous justice on the thugs. The party encounters another one of their victims upstairs and Edwin suggests to hold the noblewoman for ransom. Minsc will have none of it and Gar agrees shutting Edwin's mouth by letting him have a pair of Boots of Avoidance that were recovered from the thugs. As the party prepares to leave, they are approached by a small girl who demands the scimitar which that Wilbur fellow sold to the party several weeks ago. Upon Gar's inquires who she is, the girl transforms into a demon and a fight breaks out. The fiend immediately protects herself from magical weapons and lashes out, damaging Minsc heavily with her swords. Edwin counters with a Breach spell but the demon quickly pulls up a stoneskin. Jan brings down some of her health with magic missiles while Edwin hits her with another Breach. Her magical defenses lowered, the demon falls to Viconia's flail and Valygar's arrows. The party gets some rest at the Five Flagons after which Gar decides that it's time to take care of the task which Bodhi gave them.

The group heads for the docks and gets ambushed by several shadow thieves as they pass near the guildhall. These thieves seem to be more dangerous than Maevar's goons which the group fought earliler. They carry invisibility potions and even know how to use scrolls and detect illusions making it hard for Jan and Edwin to keep their mirror images up. Fortunately, they are quite susceptible to Jan's singing and become easy targets for Valygar and Minsc once they are confused. After some more skirmishing the party prevails and heads further down to the docks. Gar spots Mook and sneaks past her as Viconia and Jan attempt to navigate the narrow stairway. However, Mook is not alone and upon spotting Viconia, several thieves jump out of the shadows, including a prominent one who goes by the name of Arkanis Gath. This guy is clearly much stronger than the others. He backstabs Viconia for quite a bit of damage and proceeds to hit her with several powerful swings. She quaffs a healing potion and Arkanis uses an Oil of Speed. Minsc and Edwin are unable to navigate the narrow stairway in time to help Viconia so Gar decides to step out of the shadows and backstabbs one shadow thief while introducing the others to his Divine Wrath. Valygar manages to pick off most of Arkanis' minions with his bow but the rogue leader takes Viconia down with repeated slashes from his swords. Gar uses his Ring of Invisibility while Minsc finally gets down the stairs and starts laying the smack on Arkanis. However, the thief quaffs an invisibility potion and switches to a more convenient target killing Valygar with a powerful backstab. Angered by this, Gar leaves the safety of invisibility and hits Arkanis with a backstab of his own. Edwin and Jan then finish the wounded thief with a handful of magic missiles. After catching his breath, Gar uses two charges of the Rod of Resurrection to get Viconia and Valygar back from the dead. The party then delivers the hard earned shipment back to Bodhi which grants Edwin a level. The pale mistress offers Gar a choice in his next assignment: to rescue a prisoner held hostage by the shadow thieves or to murder a man and frame them for it. Minsc urges him to take on the noble task and Gar gives in, knowing that the berserker will likely fight harder if he is given a worthy cause. Exhausted, the party prepares to rest in Bodhi's lair while Gar ponders on a better strategy for dealing with the shadow thieves.

Modifié par Thailog, 13 septembre 2010 - 07:21 .

[Thailog]

Chronicles of Gar, the Half-Orc Assassin, part 10


Reloads so far:

1 - Main char killed by Tolgerias at the planar sphere


Party setup:

Gar - Assassin(15)
Minsc - Berserker(13)
Viconia - Fighter(10)/Nightcloak of Shar(11)
Valygar - Archer(12)
Jan - Jester(15)
Edwin - Conjurer(13)


After taking a nap in Bodhi's lair, Gar's party sets out to free a hostage held inside the Shadow Thief guildhall. Having learned a few things from their last encounter, they are much better prepared this time. Gar carefully scouts out the exterior in stealth mode but he finds no thieves outside. Viconia buffs herself, Minsc and Gar with Free Action while Edwin and Jan put up their stoneskins and mirror images. Free Action is essential to Gar's strategy as he had Edwin and Jan stock up on Web and Grease, figuring that the key to avoiding those nasty backstabs is not letting the thieves reach the most vulnerable targets in the first place. Edwin hastes the party and everyone goes inside. Since these were originally Renal's quarters, Gar half expected to face him here, but the coward apparently left the defenses to a bunch of his underlings. As the battle starts, Gar notices that the thieves have stocked up their ranks with some Kara-Tur and Zhentarim mercenaries. The latter is a a mage who instantly uses a spell sequencer to go invisible and haste her allies. Edwin and Jan drop Web and Grease in the middle of the room while Viconia tosses a Silence spell in the mage's general direction. It works, and Zhent girl is silenced in addition to being confused by Jan's singing. Most of the thieves are webbed, and those who aren't get chopped up by Minsc. However, the mage recovers from the confusion and uses a Vocalize spell to counter the silence. Edwin and Jan try to swarm her with magic missiles but they fail since she's covered in Improved Invisibility. Viconia starts casting True Seeing while Minsc keeps hacking away at her stoneskin. She tries to stop their attacks with a Protection from Magic Weapons but Gar instructs Minsc to switch to his non-magical twohander so it does her little good. Viconia's True Seeing is now up so Edwin and Jan take out the mage with a magic missile barrage. The rest of the thieves are revealed as well and get quickly dispatched by Valygar's bow. The party frees the hostage and starts searching the area for valuables. Gar disarms a couple of traps on the nearby chests so skillfully that he is able to recover the traps' content. He gets some poison darts off the first chest and an Arrow of Dispelling off the second one. The powerful arrow is handed to Valygar who is instructed to save it in case the party encounters a particularly nasty mage.

The group takes the stairs down where they find some more thieves. Their setup is similar to the bunch which the party fought above so Gar figures that the same strategy might work here too. Edwin and Jan spam Web and Grease while Viconia gets a True Seeing up and the thieves are doomed. Nearly all of them get webbed and fall to Minsc's blade and Valygar's arrows. Edwin and Jan swarm Zhent girl #2 with magic missiles and Viconia finishes her off with the Flail of Ages. Gar disarms a few more traps and finds a secret door in the back room but he is unable to pick the lock. The party returns to the graveyard to inform Bodhi of their success. She somewhat downplays the party's efforts and requests that they kill Aran Linvail, the leader of Atkhatla's Shadow Thieves in order to ensure her guild's supremacy. To access the guildhall basement where Aran hangs out, Gar needs a special key which is currently in possession of his old acquaintance Gaelan Bayle. The group confronts the thief at his home but he summons some reinforcements from upstairs. They don't help him all that much and he falls pretty fast. Gar finds the key on Gaelan's body and the group investigates the upper floor. They find a lone elven shadow thief who attacks despite the unfavorable odds. After he is dealt with, Gar recovers an elvish dagger made for fighting vampires from his body. The party gets back to the docks and heads for the Sea's Bounty tavern since Gar wants everyone to be well rested before going after the Shadowmaster.

On the next morning, the party gets back to the guildhall where Gar uses Gaelan's key to unlock the secret door to the basement. As the group descends the stairs, they somehow trip an alarm which seals off the way back. They are greeted by a Priestess of Mask and a bunch of shadow thief thugs. The priestess buffs her allies and then protects herself with a Sanctuary spell. Minsc and Viconia chase down the melee thieves while Gar backstabs one of the archers. The thieves go down quickly but the priestess is hard to catch as she's constantly popping in and out of invisibility and keeps renewing her stoneskin and mirror images. She manages to slow the party and tries to dominate Gar before finally falling to Valygar's arrows who gains a level in the process. Viconia also gains a level and picks up some invisibility potions from the enemies' remains while the rest of the party waits out the slow spell. Gar discovers Tizzak, an informant of Bodhi's who was imprisoned here. He promises to explain Gar how to reach Aran's inner sanctum in exchange for his freedom. The party takes care of the resident torturer along with his crew and recovers the dungeon key. Gar also finds two enchanted daggers, a scroll of Spook and a Wand of Fear nearby. The party uses the key to free Tizzak from his cell and he explains that Aran's chamber is protected by two doors. One is opened with a button and the other needs a key which is guarded by Haz the wizard. As the party strolls down the corridor, Gar disarms another trap and recovers an Arrow of Detonation. These arrows are exceptionally powerful and Valygar decides to save it for a worthy occasion.

Following the path, the party runs into a warrior named Dedral who sics some clay golems on them. Viconia passes the Flail of Ages to Minsc and packs out her Stonesmasher club as these creatures can only be harmed by blunt weapons. After dispatching the golems, the party is assaulted by a few bowmen who were hiding on the nearby platforms, but Valygar quickly proves who is the superior archer here and defeats them with ease. Gar reaches level 16 and learns how to handle a Katana, as he had promised earlier. He can now also make a Death Attack once per day. The party crosses the narrow bridge and arrives at a large chamber where they get ambushed by Dedral and his minions. Caught off guard, with the odds stacked against them, the party must think quick if they are to survive. Edwin and Jan take control of the battlefield with Web and Grease, Viconia uses her spider figurine to summon Kittix while Gar decides to try out his new ability on Dedral. The Death Attack is unsuccessful, as the warrior makes his save, but luckily, a subsequent hit from Celestial Fury stuns Dedral which gives Minsc, Viconia and Valygar enough time to finish him off. Edwin spawns some more spiders who join Kittix in taking care of the webbed thieves. The priestess of Mask manages to evade the party for a while until she gets confused by Jan's song and falls to Viconia's flail. Gar finds a bunch of potions in the nearby crates and recovers a Rod of Golem Control from Dedral's corpse. Apparently, it can be used to pacify any golem that was created by Haz. The party moves up the corridor where Gar gets a chance to test his golem theory in action. Fortunately, it works so Gar bypasses the now docile construct and pushes the button which opens one of Aran's doors after disarming a trap and recovering another Arrow of Detonation.

The party proceeds down the lower hallway where they encounter another golem which also yields at the sight of the control rod. Further ahead, Gar disarms a few more traps and spots a wizard guarded by three golems in a secluded room. This turns out to be Haz, and he already has a stoneskin up so a backstab is out of the question. The party buffs up with defensive spells and charges the room but the mage pulls up a defensive spell trigger which gives him True Sight and turns him invisible. He then sics his golems on the group and uses a powerful spell sequencer packed with a flame arrow, a lightning bolt and a fireball on the unlucky Gar who dies on the spot. Sigh, cue reload number 2. This time, things go a bit differently. The party drinks a few fire protection potions before going inside and Minsc borrows the Flail of Ages from Viconia who equips her Stonesmasher club instead. Haz pulls up his spell trigger again but Jan instantly lobs a Remove Magic in the mage's direction and strips him of his defenses and his True Sight. Valygar uses the opportunity to hit Haz with an arrow of biting and the poison takes its course, effectively disrupting all of the mage's subsequent spells. Viconia and Minsc take the golems on, quaffing healing potions left and right, while Haz's contingency kicks in and turns him invisible. Having disposed of the golems, Viconia pulls up a True Seeing of her own and reveals the mage who gets executed by a backstab from Gar. Heh, serves him right. The party picks up a key from Haz's body and loots his room finding some scrolls and potions. Everyone tracks back to the entrance where Gar discovers a secret passage guarded by a bunch of golems. Fortunately, they too become docile after seeing the control rod and Gar can disarm the traps in the hallway unhindered.

The party finally reaches Aran's sanctum and prepares for battle. Aiming for the Web + Grease strategy again, Jan animates two Skeleton Warriors while Edwin conjures up a Sword Spider. Viconia summons an Invisible Stalker and buffs the party with everything she's got. Gar opens the door and faces Aran Linvail and his bodyguards. The Shadowmaster immediately pulls up a defensive spell trigger which includes Mislead and True Sight. Viconia is just about to use confusion on the thieves when her own True Seeing kicks in and dispels Aran's illusion. Jan then lobs a Remove Magic into the room, Valygar aims an Arrow of Dispelling at Aran for good measure and Edwin follows up with a Web. Both spells hit and the shadowmaster gets stuck in the webbing, becoming an easy target for the Skeleton Warriors and the Sword Spider. Two assassins suddenly appear behind Minsc while Valygar keeps peppering Aran with Arrows of Biting. Gar uses his Divine Wrath in order to push away the incoming assassins just as a Skeleton Warrior cuts Aran down. Viconia rushes into the room and gets her Free Action annulled by a dispel arrow trap which instantly gets her stuck in Edwin's web. However, with the Shadowmaster dead, his minions fall into disarray and flee the guild. From Aran's body Gar recovers a Short Sword of Backstabbing which lives up to its name. Viconia acquires the Amulet of Power, Minsc gets a Ring of Protection +2 and Jan receives the Dagger of Acumen. Gar searches the chamber and, after disarming some traps, finds a bunch of gems and three valuable scrolls - Improved Haste, Protection from Magical Weapons and Spell Trigger all of which are scribed by Edwin. The party heads back and finds that the fleeing thieves have unlocked the basement doors. Before going back to the graveyard, the party stops by a dwarven smith named Cromwell who upgrades Viconia's Mace of Disruption to a more powerful version which also protects the wielder against level drain. Back at Bodhi's place, the party reports their progress which grants Jan a level. The pale mistress is now ready to take the party to Irenicus but Gar tells her to wait until the party sells off the surplus items and restocks at the Adventurer's Mart. Viconia buys the Plate of Balduran and the Fortress Shield while Valygar gets the Helm of Vhailor. Gar purchases the Mercykiller Ring for himself and grabs the Shield of Balduran as well, just in case the party runs into some Beholders on their way to Irenicus. After their shopping spree, the party returns to Bodhi and prepares to follow her onto the island of Spellhold.

Modifié par Thailog, 15 septembre 2010 - 07:26 .

[Thailog]

Chronicles of Gar, the Half-Orc Assassin, part 11


Reloads so far:

1 - Main char killed by Tolgerias at the planar sphere
2 - Main char killed by Haz under the Shadow Thief guildhall


Party setup:

Gar - Assassin(16)
Minsc - Berserker(13)
Viconia - Fighter(11)/Nightcloak of Shar(11)
Valygar - Archer(13)
Jan - Jester(16)
Edwin - Conjurer(13)


Bodhi makes good on her promise and finally takes the party to Brynnlaw. This island houses the Spellhold asylum of the Cowled Wizards which is where Irenicus and Imoen are supposedly being held. The ship's captain, Saemon, gives the party a quick tour of the port and hints that they might find a way to enter the asylum by inquiring at the local tavern. Inside, Gar saves Sanik from an assassination attempt and it turns out that he can get the party into Spellhold. In exchange, he asks Gar to rescue his fiancé from Lady Galvana, a corrupt brothel owner. The party makes some inquiries around the town and secure one of Galvana's medallions by getting rid of a thug who was harassing a former courtesan and her little brother. Gar asks another courtesan to take him to her room, bluffs his way past some guards using the medallion and arranges for their drinks to be spiked with a sleeping draught. The party defeats Galvana and her mage bodyguard without much trouble. Gar then rescues Sanik's girlfriend from the dungeon which grants Minsc a level. Back at the tavern, Sanik explains that there are two ways to enter the asylum, one is to convince a local pirate that someone in the party is insane, and the other involves getting a special ward stone from a cowled wizard named Pereth. Gar decides to try both, just in case one method fails. The group finds the mage in his home but he doesn't seem fully in control of his own mind and attacks them. Perth manages to put up a stoneskin but all of his subsequent spells are disrupted by Viconia's flail and Valygar's arrows. He falls fairly quickly and the party recovers a Book of Infinite Spells and a ward stone from his body. Gar then introduces Minsc to the Pirate Lord which immediately gets the whole party confined to the asylum. They find Imoen but alas, her mind seems to be broken from the constant torture that she had to endure. Irenicus appears soon after and reveals that Saemon has slipped a spell component in the party's food during the ship voyage and renders everyone unconscious with a mere gesture of his hand.

Gar is now held prisoner inside some apparatus which Irenicus uses to drain his divine essence. The mage reveals that he has already done so with Imoen who is apparently also a child of Bhaal. Imoen's divine soul went to none other than Bodhi, and Gar guesses that blood is indeed thicker than water. Irenicus activates the machine and Gar loses consciousness, falling into a nightmare where he has to fight Bhaal himself. Unable to defeat the specter, Gar runs into a demon who grants him shelter inside a building in return for a sacrifice. Gar chooses to lose a point of wisdom and enters the library where a reflection of Imoen helps him defeat Bhaal. Upon waking up, Gar finds out that he can no longer use any of his Bhaalpowers and Bodhi dumps him, along with the rest of his party, inside a dungeon. Down there, Gar is reunited with Imoen, but his party is already full so he cannot take her in. Imoen decides to find her own way out while Gar and his group go deeper into the dungeon hoping to cause enough trouble to keep the guards' attention away from her.

As the group climbs the stairs, Gar briefly notices a feeling of weakness coming over him. Apparently, the effects of whatever Irenicus had done to him are starting to manifset. The feeling soon passes, and the party disposes of some Umber Hulks and Minotaurs and finds a great stone statue that is blocking the way out. It will only let its builder pass and requires a focus of some sort in order to do that. The party then disposes of a clay golem, a pack of gibberlings and some Yuan-Ti which gives Gar a level. In the nearby rooms, Edwin solves two riddles and gets an Ioun Stone and a Ring of Regeneration for his trouble. In a different room, Gar encounters a magical portal after slaying a Rakshasa and some mephits. Thinking it may lead the party outside Gar activates the portal using one of the magical gems that he found in the other rooms. Unfortunately, he is proven wrong and the party is assaulted by a Greater Wolfware and a Pit Fiend. They are both dispatched, though the demon's fear aura briefly manages to scare off Minsc and Jan. The third gem summons a genie which gives Gar a suit of magical armor before departing. The party proceeds to the next chamber and encounters a strange book. Edwin uses it to summon some monsters, including a Mind Flayer and a Beholder which are summarily dispatched by the party's combined efforts. Edwin gains a level, some scrolls and a ring of Free Action in the process. After dealing with some kobolds and mephits the party recovers a peculiar crystal shard. They dispatch some undead and a few more umber hulks before locating the man who built the asylum. He has been turned into a vampire and after Gar releases him from his undead existence, the party is free to move on to the next level of the dungeon.

The group dispatches a couple of Battle Horrors, a few more Yuan-Ti and some trolls which grants Viconia and Jan a level up. After dealing with some Minotaurs, Viconia gets a couple of paintings from a trapped room, the warding spells causing her no harm due to her magic resistance. The party uses the odd paintings to open up a previously inaccessible corridor after disposing of a mind flayer, a spirit troll and a noble genie. Gar's speeds up the process with a few backstabs which have gotten pretty powerful since his last level up. The party then disposes of an umber hulk, some wolfwares and a couple of golems before reaching a strange slot machine which uses mithril tokens to produce magical items. Gar places 15 tokens inside the machine and gets a pair of Boots of Speed. The party continues searching for a way out as Gar stumbles into a room with a minotaur statue where he is ambushed by Bodhi and her minions. As the vampires are about to attack, Gar feels a surge of rage taking over his mind and he transforms into some kind of an abyssal creature which scares Bodhi off. He almost attacks his own party but they wisely keep their distance until he changes back. Viconia is amazed and explains that Gar just transformed into the Slayer, one of Bhaal's avatars. After regaining their composure, the party disposes of a few more minotaurs and open the way out by putting two stone horns on the minotaur statue.

In the next chamber, the party is greeted by an apparition of a long dead cowled wizard. The specter puts them through a few trials until he is satisfied with the outcome. During the tests, Gar picks up a Cloak of Reflection from one of the rooms and a magical club from a troll altar. Once the party proves that their sanity is intact, the specter leads everyone to the exit. Valygar and Minsc level up as the party enters the next room and encounters the treacherous Saemon Havarian. The rogue shrugs off all responsibility for their capture and claims that Gar's party will need the assistance of the other Spellhold inmates in order to defeat Irenicus. Gar decides to give the rogue another chance while the party buffs up and ascends the stairs to rally Irenicus' prisoners against him. On the next floor, they are attacked by Lonk, the keymaster who falls to Gar's Death Attack. The inmates agree to fight for Gar and teleport everyone downstairs. They catch Irenicus off guard and manage to injure him severely enough to force him into a retreat. After the anti-climatic battle, Gar gains another level and the party encounters Saemon again while searching for a way out. The rogue claims that he is able to take Gar and company to Irenicus if they agree to protect him. Gar reluctantly accepts, and Saemon leads everyone outside. Exhausted, the party heads for the tavern to rest up. During the night, Gar has a strange dream about Imoen and the Slayer. In the morning, he finds out that he is now able to assume the Slayer from at will. However, such power probably comes with a heavy price. The party talks to Saemon who claims that his ship had been sabotaged. Growing increasingly impatient with this man's flimsiness, Gar decides to help him one more time, but he promises Saemon a taste his blade should he endanger the party again. Gar and his group steal a horn from the mistress of the local Prate Lord and Saemon uses it to snatch away his ship. After the party deals with some pirates the ship is free to sail out and Saemon gives Gar a magical blade as a token of his gratitude. The voyage is cut short as the ship gets boarded by a pack of Githyanki who are apparently searching for a piece of their sacred Silver Sword, which turns out to be the blade which Saemon gave to Gar just before they departed. Gar has finally had enough and Saemon gets killed for his treachery. The Githyanki start a fight but the ship sails into a storm and everyone falls overboard. By mere chance, the party is rescued by Sahuagin, a race of evil fish-men who claim that Gar's arrival was prophesized by their god. The party seemingly proves this by defeating an Ettin in the arena and they are soon free to roam the underwater city.

Modifié par Thailog, 18 septembre 2010 - 05:39 .

[Flamedance]

Good idea and good luck with your assassin, Thailog. I more or less expect my no reload character to make through BG1, but i don't have high hopes for her in SoA/ToB. If she dies, i'll join for this challenge.

[Thailog]

Flamedance wrote...

Good idea and good luck with your assassin, Thailog. I more or less expect my no reload character to make through BG1, but i don't have high hopes for her in SoA/ToB. If she dies, i'll join for this challenge.

Feel free to join up if the need arises. Best of luck with your No Reload attempt.

BTW, I'm also planning a BG1 + BG2 run after I finish this playthrough. Granted, I haven't played the first game in a very long time, but from what I remember, I think I had a lot more trouble there than in BG2 since the characters are so fragile at low levels. Any tips?

[Flamedance]

Any heavily armored guy with preferably a few special abilities. AC is very important in BG1. Of course bad ac/low hitpoints guys/gals can do it too, but it's a lot more risky. One ambush by bandit archers and you're dead meat.

Assuming you use Tutu/BGT, a dwarf berserker, inquisitor (makes fighting mages a lot easier + immunity to Hold and Charm) or cavalier (immunity to fear and charm are priceless) are solid choices.

Little trick: if you go for any kind kind of mage (except sorceror), pick 'Find Familiar"as your initial spell choice. Memorize it, rest and summon the familiar. Et voila, you'll have doubled your hitpoints before even leaving the Candlekeep inn.

[Thailog]

Cheers, the low levels in BG1 sound pretty rough.

I think I'll go with a heavily armored main char with plenty of HP once I'm done with this run. Probably a paladin or a fighter/cleric with high constitution.

[Thailog]

Chronicles of Gar, the Half-Orc Assassin, part 12


Reloads so far:

1 - Main char killed by Tolgerias at the planar sphere
2 - Main char killed by Haz under the Shadow Thief guildhall


Party setup:

Gar - Assassin(18)
Minsc - Berserker(15)
Viconia - Fighter(12)/Nightcloak of Shar(12)
Valygar - Archer(14)
Jan - Jester(17)
Edwin - Conjurer(14)


While strolling around fish city, Gar and his party stumble across a priestess who offers them a new deal. She claims that the Sahuagin king is mad and urges the party to betray him and side with the rebel prince instead. She also explains that the party needs a magical shark tooth which is locked away somewhere in the abandoned part of the city in order to pass the wards which protect the prince's domain.Gar then stops by a different priestess who offers astoundingly favorable prices for her goods. Edwin and Jan use the opportunity to recharge all of their wands and buy a couple of new scrolls. The party then heads for the outskirts of the city and gets attacked by several rebel groups in the process. One rebel bunch is led by a Sahuagin priestess who leaves behind the Cloak of Mirroring, a very powerful artifact which can guard the wearer against most spells that cause direct damage. Jan gains a level and Gar finds out that Jan's song can now mesmerize enemies in addition to confusing and distracting them. This effect seems to be something like a poor man's hold person but the enemy is held only until someone attacks it, after which the effect ends. The group dispatches some spiders and a bone golem and finds the tooth in a chest after Edwin solves a riddle for some imps and tricks a Spectator beholder into cooperation. Gar finally reaches the rebel prince and decides to go along with his scheme to assassinate the king. Jan uses this opportunity to snatch a magical halberd blade from the prince's pocket. The king and his royal guards are no match for the party and the prince usurps the throne. The party receives a magical rope which they use to descend into the depths of the Underdark which grants Edwin, Valygar, Minsc and Gar a level.

As everyone's eyes adjust to the darkness, Viconia warns the party of the many dangers which await them inside her former home. This includes illithid, kua-toa and beholders who are all supposedly lurking somewhere in the Underdark caves. Gar scouts out the immediate surroundings and finds some duergar merchants. Edwin acquires a couple of new scrolls (most notably Mass Invisibility, Spell Sequencer and Spell Shield) while Gar finds out about a mage who was imprisoned somewhere nearby. Edwin deduces that the mage must have been searching for something valuable and restores him by reading a Freedom scroll. The mage introduces himself as Vithal and asks the party to help him in his research of the other planes. Gar sees an opportunity to get his hands on some exotic items and agrees to look for the mage's spellbook. While scouting the area, Gar is attacked by a bunch of kua-toa, the nasty fish people who can see through invisibility and stealth. Once they are disposed of, Gar discovers two tunnels leading south and east but his instinct tells him not to enter for now. The group heads upward and encounters a drow scouting party. One of the drow mages tries to cast a divination spell but gets backstabbed by Gar before he can finish. Edwin tries to disrupt the priestess' spells with a magic missle barrage but she shrugs it off due to her drow magic resistance. Fortunately, the magic resistance doesn't affect Jan's song and the drow soon fall into disarray becoming easy targets for Minsc and Valygar. Gar searches their belongings and gets a highly enchanted adamantine full plate for Minsc and suit of drow elven chain for Jan.

Further up, the party encounters a strange machine which seems to hold trapped souls. Edwin tries it out and releases a madman named Angelo who attacks the party. Minsc and Viconia dispose of him and Gar decides to hide in shadows, ready to backstab, in case another prisoner tries the same. This precaution pays off after Edwin releases a mad elven mage, a Githyanki and a lich who all try to attack the party but get backstabbed before they are able to do so. The final chamber holds a deep gnome child whom Gar sets free. Further up, the party gets ambushed by another bunch of drow. Learning from his experience in the past, Edwin decides to try a summoning spell instead of attacking the drow directly with his magic. Since Viconia regularly protects the party from evil whenever they are in hostile territory, Edwin chooses to try out a Cacofiend spell. He summons a Cornugon whose aura of fear makes the drow run in panic giving the party some room to maneuver on the narrow bridge. The fiend teleports around hunting down every drow down to the last and wanders off to the south when it runs out of opponents. Up north, Gar finds a locked door which leads to a drow city and a cave which is too dark to navigate without a powerful light source. The party returns to the east and disposes of some myconids before reaching a deep gnome settlement. It turns out that the boy whom Gar had set free was the son of the local storekeep and he rewards the party with a pair of magical bracers. Edwin notices that the innkeeper has a spellbook for sale and the party purchases it and returns it to the formerly imprisoned mage. Vithal is pleased and asks the party to help him fend off a couple of elemental guardians while he explores the planes on the other sides of the portals. Gar agrees and the party disposes of three large elementals getting a Skull of Death and a Rod of Absorption for their trouble.

The group heads back to the deep gnome village to get some rest at the local tavern. Next morning, they receive an audience with the mayor of the settlement who claims that he knows someone who could help the party to track down Irenicus and Bodhi. The catch is, he wants Gar and co. to get rid of some terrible creature which the gnomes have accidentally unearthed. Gar has a bad feeling about this but since this is the party's first clue to Irenicus' whereabouts in a long time, he complies. The group heads for a secluded mine shaft and everyone prepares for battle. Inside, the party is assaulted by a Balor, one of the highest ranking Tanar'ri. The demon stuns Edwin with a symbol spell and proceeds to pummel on Minsc and Viconia who find out that attacking it in melee is dangerous since the Balor's flaming aura keeps damaging them. They retreat and leave the job to Valygar who pulls out Tansheron's bow and finishes the fiend off from a safe distance. Jan gains another level while Viconia reads the stoneshape scroll and seals the mine shaft for good. The party returns to the gnome mayor who gives them a light gem which allows the group to enter the dark cave where they discover a silver dragon named Adalon. Apparently, she has watched the group's progress with some interest and offers to help Gar find Irenicus if he carries out a favor in return. It appears that the drow have stolen the dragon's eggs and she asks the party to return them to her safely. Gar agrees and the dragon covers the group in an illusion which should allow them to enter the drow city unhindered.

Modifié par Thailog, 21 septembre 2010 - 08:42 .

[corey_russell]

Well my PC died in the Underdark (he was killed by a drow mage in a challenge), so will post anything interesting that happens here.



Here are his stats:





I will reload on character death, or if necessary to deal with bugs, otherwise I won't reload.



Mod setup: None

BG 2

Throne of Bhaal Expansion

Official ToB patch



We got Imoen early and have just got out of the Underdark, so we have a lot of quests still to do (bridge quests, planar sphere/prison quests etc.). Currently we are in the Docks after defeating Galvery and his Harper lackeys.

[jaxsbudgie]

Out of interest Thailog, how are you finding Vaygar as an Archer, Jan as a Jester and Viconia as a Fighter/Nightcloak of Shar.

The first two I am yet to try, they sound interesting, especially Jan.

Also how are you finding Spell Revisions?

[Thailog]

corey_russell wrote...

Well my PC died in the Underdark (he was killed by a drow mage in a challenge), so will post anything interesting that happens here.

Welcome corey!

Sorry about your char, best of luck with the rest of your run.

[Thailog]

jaxsbudgie wrote...

Out of interest Thailog, how are you finding Vaygar as an Archer, Jan as a Jester and Viconia as a Fighter/Nightcloak of Shar.
The first two I am yet to try, they sound interesting, especially Jan.
Also how are you finding Spell Revisions?

Valygar's a powerhouse as an archer. According to his char sheet, he's my second best warrior (27% kills) right after Minsc (30% kills). He got grandmastery in shortbows early on which now gives him 4.5 attacks per round. I've had him use composite shortbows for their higher damage output most of the time, but he switches to Tansheron's when the party encounters an enemy that needs a +3 weapon to hit. He's also great at disrupting enemy mages' spells by using acid, fire and ice arrows since their damage goes straight through stoneskin. He also keeps a small stack of dispelling arrows for those extra hard mage fights. One of these babies completely debuffs a mage after a single hit.

Jan's been great too. As a Jester, he started off with 100% pickpocketing at level 10 and got an extra 20% bonus from his techno-gloves which allowed him to get Ribald's Ring of Regeneration right away and clean out the Trademeet merchants' stock without too much trouble. His song is pretty sweet too, the confusion effect helps with crowd control at lower levels and keeps the party from getting swarmed. He just got a new "mesmerize" effect at level 18 which, as mentioned above, kinda works like hold person but expires as soon as the creature is attacked. Also, the coolest thing is that his song ignores magic resistance, which makes it great to use against drow and mind flayers. However, it doesn't work on golems and skeleton warriors and says something like "these creatures are unaffected" if they are within the range of the song.

Viconia works fine as a Fighter/Nightcloak of Shar. Her low strength and constitution were a bit of a problem early on but she can buff herself with Holy Power and Righteous Magic to compensate. Her spell selection is very limited though, and she doesn't get Heal nor Mass Cure which sucks. As a trade off, she's got some nifty innate abilities like confusion and a chakram spiritual weapon which gives her 5 attacks per round (just imagine her as Xena the warrior princess, complete with the trademark scream ). Her flail of ages also rocks, as its elemental damage helps with disrupting enemy spells and its slow effect isn't affected by magic resistance. Speaking of which, Viconia's drow magic resistance keeps her from getting hurt too badly in mage fights, so she's the one I usually send to go toe to toe with an enemy mage.

I don't have Spell Revisions installed since I chose Divine Remix for this run.

Modifié par Thailog, 25 septembre 2010 - 06:29 .

[jaxsbudgie]

I actually meant Divine Remix, Freudian slip methinks. I think I may have Valygar as an Archer in my next run through, sounds pretty good. Yeah that was the biggest disappointment for me with Divine Remix is the number of spells they take away, I didn't think the few one's they gave you as special abilities made up for it. But in role playing terms, I does make sense, would be nice if somehow you could choose your own domains as a standard Cleric. Make sure you kill Adalon to get the blood, the Human Flesh +5 armour is essential for anyone with Viconia in the team. Are you romancing her by any chance? Because as soon as she changes alignment she won't be able to wear it any longer.

[Thailog]

jaxsbudgie wrote...

I actually meant Divine Remix, Freudian slip methinks.

Well, I like some of the new druid spells (i.e. Moonblade and Sunscorch came in handy when I still had Jaheira) but I'm inclined to agree with you on the cleric domain thing. Viconia's spellbook just feels too empty, especially at higher levels. Anyways, I think I'll give Spell Revisions a whirl on my next run.

Make sure you kill Adalon to get the blood, the Human Flesh +5 armour is essential for anyone with Viconia in the team. Are you romancing her by any chance? Because as soon as she changes alignment she won't be able to wear it any longer

Yeah, I'm romancing Viconia but I vaguely recall that you can choose whether she'll turn good or stay evil in one of her ToB lovetalks. And I'm definitively getting her that armor. [smilie]http://social.bioware.com/images/forum/emoticons/devil.png[/smilie]

[Thailog]

Chronicles of Gar, the Half-Orc Assassin, part 13


Reloads so far:

1 - Main char killed by Tolgerias at the planar sphere
2 - Main char killed by Haz under the Shadow Thief guildhall


Party setup:

Gar - Assassin(19)
Minsc - Berserker(16)
Viconia - Fighter(12)/Nightcloak of Shar(13)
Valygar - Archer(15)
Jan - Jester(19)
Edwin - Conjurer(15)


Thanks to Adalon's illusion and Viconia's smooth talking, the party finally gains enterance to the drow city of Ust Natha. Jan relieves a couple of drow merchants of some scrolls and also grabs the Firetooth dagger for Edwin. Gar and hsi group then meet up with Solaufein, the head of the Male Fighter Society who gives them a task to rescue Phaere, the daughter of one of the ruling Matrons from some illithids. On the way, the party is ambushed by a band of monstrous humanoids. They are dispatched without too much effort and Minsc, who has just started to learn how to use halbards, gets a new toy. Edwin picks up a scroll of Horrid Wilting from the mage's corpse and the party proceeds to meet up with Solaufein who prepares to ambush Phaere's captors. Soon, the illithids and their umber hulk bodyguards appear and the battle starts. One of the mind flayers manages to stun Viconia with his psionic powers before falling to Gar's backstab. Jan mesmerizes the umber hulks with his song while Minsc and Valygar concentrate their attacks on the remaining mind flayers. Once they fall, the clean up job is trivial. Phaere is intrigued by Gar (a.k.a. Veldrin) and wants to meet him back at the drow city. Inside the tavern, she makes Gar an offer to rise up in the city's ranks by performing some tasks for her and asks him to meet her at the city gates in three days. Having some time to kill, Gar and Edwin decide to participate in the local arena fights to improve their standing amongst the drow before getting some rest.

Next morning, Phaere wants the party to help her kill a beholder. As the group walks to the meeting point, Gar is blackmailed by a strange fish creature that lives in a tank to kidnap a drow priestess. Completing Phaere's task goes more smoothly than expected as Edwin kills the beholder single handedly with a 3 x Flame Arrow Spell Sequencer before it can activate any of its eyestalks. Phaere is pleased, so Gar goes to look into that priestess' business. She is guarded by a bunch of mages who turn out to be fairly challenging opponents. Edwin decides to summon a cacofiend for reinforcements right before getting stunned by one of the mage's spells. Fortunately, the Cornugon's fear aura isn't subject to the drow's magic resistance, making the panicked wizards easy prey for Valygar and Minsc. Gar gives the priestess' brain to the fish creature and the party goes to meet Phaere at the tavern. She now wants Gar and Solaufein to kill a deep gnome party in order to set an example. Gar decides to handle things on his own and sends Solaufein back to the town. He spares the gnome leader's life and takes his helmet as proof.

With some free time on their hands, the party decides to explore the western tunnels and slaughter a bunch of those annoying kua-toa fish people who can see right through Gar's stealth mode. They find a pair of magical bracers and some blood on their prince's body. On the way back, Edwin spots a chamber which houses a strange demonic altar and decides to investigate. Despite Gar's warnings, Edwin's lust for power is not sated until he sacrifices a spider on the altar which promptly summons a pack of Demon Knights who attack the party. Edwin responds by summoning a fiend of his own which turns out to be a good idea since demons and devils hate each other. Gar backstabs one of the demons while an enraged Minsc almost single-handedly overpowers the others thanks to Jan who buffed him with Improved Haste beforehand. Edwin's Cornugon finishes off the last demon knight which grants Minsc and Gar a level up. The party recovers a Belt of Frost Giant Strength, the Armor of the Heart and the Soulreaver from their leader's corpse and heads for Ust Natha to get some rest.

In the morning, Gar hands over the gnome leader's helmet to Phaere which grants Jan and Valygar a level up. Phaere then asks Gar to meet her in private at her house and it turns out that she wants the party to dispose of Solaufein. Gar feigns obedience but opts to warn Solaufein of her treachery. The drow warrior thanks the party and gives them his cloak which is to serve as proof of his death. When Gar returns to Phaere with the cloak, she offers to spend the night with him which amuses Viconia. On the next day, Gar is introduced to Phaere's mother who wants the party to get her some blood samples from three different Underdark races: beholders, kua-toa and illithid. Having already acquired some kua-toa blood, Gar heads toward the southern tunels in hopes of finding a beholder lair. On the way out, the party is interrupted by a handmaiden who wants them to dispose of some cultists and a drow mage who offers them a magical rope which supposedly unlocks a lair of a powerful lich. The cultists are slain with ease but the party gets mazed by the lich which transports them into the lair of a drow rogue named Jarlaxe. He wants the party to get him some gems from Deirex' lair which turns out to be surprisingly easy as the lich falls to the Mace of Disrupton after just a few hits. Jarlaxe is satisfied and gives the party a wardstone to the house of Jaelat which supposedly holds many riches. Gar decides to investigate and finds that the house is heavily guarded with drow mages and priests around every corned. However, between an improved hasted Minsc, Jan's singing and Edwin's Cornugons, the drow don't stand a chance. After the battle, Gar plunders the house and everyone heads for the beholder lair.

Inside the southern caves, the party is assaulted by two beholders. The first one immediately succumbs to Edwin's 3 x Flame Arrow sequencer, while the other one falls to Valygar's ice arrows and Jan's magic missile barrage. After donning Balduran's Shield, the Cloak of Mirroring and the Ring of Free action, Viconia single-handedly cleans out the beholder lair which grants her and Edwin a level up. Once the area is secured, Gar thoroughly searches the place and recovers a sword blade, two magical amulets, an enchanted sling and an Elder Orb's eye. The party rests up at the deep gnome village before heading toward the eastern tunnels. Since the group will be going up against illithids next, Gar instructs everyone to adjust their spells accordingly. Viconia exchanges her Righteous Magic with Impregnable Mind while Edwin and Jan stock up on Animate Dead. In the morning, the group braves the tunnels and runs straight into a mind flayer ambush. The party is captured and must fight in the arena for the amusement of the illithids. Gar finds some Githyanki in the nearby cell and reluctantly agrees to cooperate with them to find a way out. The plan works and the githyanki distract the mind flayers long enough for Gar and his group to break free. They dispose of the unusually resilient ogre jailor and free a group of enslaved humans from a strange machine. Gar uses the apparatus to create four powerful control circlets which can enslave even an illithid's mind. He uses one of them to force a mind flayer to open a sealed door for the party while Jan finds a magical harp in one of the nearby niches.

As the party nears the exit, the treacherous githyanki bail out and abandon Gar's group to the mercy of the illithid. With no other choice left, Gar and company prepare to face a large group of mind flayers and umber hulks. Jan and Edwin conjure up some skeleton warriors to serve as fodder while Minsc equips the girdle of bluntness in order to make it harder for the illithids to hit him. Viconia buffs Gar and herself with Free Action and Impregnable Mind before the battle begins. The fight goes well and the hasted skeleton warriors take the brunt of the beating. Gar backstabs one of the Ultharids while an enraged and improved hasted Minsc takes care of the rest with a little help from Viconia. The next room holds even more mind flayers and Gar once again decides to send the undead up front. It works as expected and the illithids are outmatched by skeleton warriors with a little assistance from Valygar. Gar gains a level and decides that it's time to start learning about setting traps. He scouts the nearby rooms and the party disposes of a kua-toa priest, a duergar dwarf and a few more mind flayers, recovering some magical trinkets in the process. The party uses another control circlet to force a mind flayer to open a sealed door while Gar instinctively senses that a powerful enemy is nearby. Viconia uses Wondrous Recall to get back some of her spells and the party prepares with everything they've got. They enter the chamber and find that it houses the Elder Brain of the illithids. The skeleton warriors are once again sent up front while Minsc and Valygar take the flank. This proves to be effective as the party quickly disposes of the mind flayers but then two Brain Golems appear out of thin air. Gar gets out of the way while Viconia packs out her trusty club and smashes the constructs into the ground. Once its guardians are defeated, the elder brain falls and Gar recovers another blood sample. Jan, Minsc and Viconia gain a level as the party leaves the lair and frees the slaves. On the way back, the group encounters the treacherous githyanki and Gar repays them in kind. Afterwards, everyone heads back to Ust Natha to rest up and report to Phaere.

Modifié par Thailog, 25 septembre 2010 - 12:52 .

[Thailog]

Chronicles of Gar, the Half-Orc Assassin, part 14


Reloads so far:

1 - Main char killed by Tolgerias at the planar sphere
2 - Main char killed by Haz under the Shadow Thief guildhall


Party setup:

Gar - Assassin(21)
Minsc - Berserker(18)
Viconia - Fighter(13)/Nightcloak of Shar(14)
Valygar - Archer(16)
Jan - Jester(21)
Edwin - Conjurer(16)


The party returns the blood samples to the Matron and she seems pleased, but Phaere once again wants to talk to Gar in private. The rogue can sense where this is going. Of course, Phaere now wants the party to get rid of her mother. She thought up a plan which involves tricking the Matron into offering some abyssal Demon Lord a set of fake dragon eggs which would likely result in her demise and allow Phaere to take her place and rule the house. Gar contemplates how to get out of this mess as he is approached by Solaufein. The drow warrior offers the party another set of fake dragon eggs, thereby giving Gar an option to double cross Phaere. He does so and once the summoning ritual begins, both Phaere and her mother fall victim to the demon's wrath while Viconia gloats. Edwin urges Gar to seize the moment and ask a favor of the demon in exchange for the real eggs. However, Gar doesn't get the opportunity to do that (even though his alignment is True Neutral!) and the demon simply departs. Valygar gains a level as the party exits the drow city and returns the real eggs to the Adalon. The dragon then shapeshifts into human form and escorts the party toward the Underdark exit. Gar gains a level as the group finally reaches the surface after disposing of a few stray drow.

Back under the sun again, Gar's group is taken captive by an army of elves. However, once their general finds out that Gar's been hunting Irenicus and Bodhi, he releases the party but only after forcing Viconia to undergo a geas ritual. Meanwhile, Edwin claims that he has finally figured out the secrets of the Nether Scroll. He casts a transformation spell which should supposedly make him more powerful but it backfires and turns him into a woman instead. Hilarity ensues as various party members start joking at Edwina's expense. On the way back to Athkhatla, the party runs across Drizzt and his band. Having heard of the drow's combat prowess Gar considers testing his mettle against them, but ultimately opts no to risk it due to the fact that Minsc and Viconia's shiny adamantine armor crumbled to dust under the sun's gaze. The two front liners change into non-drow armor just in time for a githyanki ambush. Apparently, these guys are still after that blade which that ****** Saemon planted on Gar. Due to his past experiences with this lot, Gar doesn't even attempt to reason with them and skips straight to the batle. As expected, the githyanki are no match for the party and fall quickly despite having the element of surprise on their side. Gar finds the hilt of the silver blade on the leader's corpse and decides to bring it along with all the other weapon pieces to the dwarven smith at the docks. For a generous gold donation, Cromwell reforges the Silver Sword, Wave Halbard, Equalizer, Gesen's Bow and even improves Gar's old buckler using some of that adamantine dust from the crumbled drow armor.

Minsc decides to test out his new Silver Sword and the party goes to check the graveyard for signs of Bodhi. She is there, as predicted, and sends some vampires after the party. Minsc tests out his new blade and is delighted to find out that vampires can die from vorpal hits. Edwina gains a level while Gar meets a strange child spirit who asks the party to return a stuffed bear to him. Gar tracks down the thug who had killed the child at the Copper Coronet and Minsc dispenses some righteous justice using the Sliver Sword. The child spirit gets its toy back and can finally rest in peace which grants Minsc a level. Sensing that Bodhi has entrenched herself along with dozens of her most powerful vampires inside her lair, Gar decides to leave the crypts alone for now and the party heads for the Adventurer's Mart to sell off some extra loot. They notice that Ribald has a bunch of new items for sale, so Edwina and Jan stock up on some high level scrolls (most notably Time Stop and Chain Contingency) which prompts Jan to level up. The party once again runs out of cash, which makes Gar remember the generous offer that a certain Lord Jierdan made him a few months ago. The group heads for Windsper Hills where they are assaulted by a pack of monsters who turn out to be knights under an illusion spell. A man named Garren witnesses the situation and offers Gar and his party shelter at his home which they accept. Next morning, the house is stormed by mercenaries and orcs who kidnap Garren's daughter. Minsc convinces Gar to rescue the girl and the party goes to look for her at the nearby ruins. On the way, they encounter a Dryad queen who takes the acorns that Gar's been hauling around since Irenicus' dungeon.

The ruins turn out to be not so abandoned after all and the party dispatches a bunch of hobgoblins, some orcs, several vampiric mists and even a rakshasa while exploring them. Deeper inside the dungeon, the group finds a pack of golems, including one made of adamantine. The towering construct roughs up Viconia pretty bad which prompts Gar to signal a strategic retreat. He doesn't want the party to risk a head-on confrontation with the golem, so Valygar makes good use of Gesen's bow and disposes of it from a safe distance. Gar scouts the area up ahead and discovers a nest of vampires. He decides to send a buffed up Viconia and an enraged Minsc after them while the rest of the party hangs back. The dynamic duo slaughters the vampires with ease and they even manage to dispatch some nearby mummies and wraiths before their buffs expire. Further ahead, the party encounters Samia, a self-proclaimed treasure hunter who is apparently seeking the tomb of a long dead king. After Gar and his party recover the late king's belongings, Samia and her group predictably attack them. Unfortunately, Samia has greatly underestimated Gar's party and she and her company fall with ease. Viconia gains a level and gets to pick her first HLA (Summon Fallen Deva). The party then dispatches some wolfwares, a few more golems and some orcs before finally finding Garren's daughter. She is locked in a cage and guarded by several orogs, one of which turns out to be Tazok, a former lackey of Sarevok. He and his orc buddies are defeated once again and the party finds a key on his corpse. Unfortunately, it doesn't unlock the cage where Garren's daughter is held.

The party pushes onward and enters a large cave where they find a mage named Conster and Lord Jierdan Firkraag himself, who turns out to be a red dragon. Apparently, he holds some old grudge towards Gorion, who was Gar's foster father, and has therefore orchestrated this entire ordeal to get back at him. Gar considers his options and decides to take his chances with Conster leaving Firkraag for another time. Upstairs, Edwina breaches Conster's defenses after which the mage falls to Gar's Death Attack. Valygar gains a level and learns his first HLA (Deathblow) while the party returns Garren's daughter home. Her father is thankful but he worries that Firkraag might come back to torment him some day. He manages to talk Gar, who had just leveled up, into facing the dragon again with tales of the many riches which the beast has supposedly accumulated in its hoard. Gar decides to try his luck and instructs everyone to memorize some fire protection spells. Back in the dungeon, the party buff up with everything they've got and engage Firkraag. Minsc faces the dragon head on but he is soon blow away by the dragon's wing buffet. Viconia gates in a Balor to keep the beast occupied long enough for Valygar, Jan and Edwina to pepper him with arrows and magic missiles. The wounded dragon spews some fire breath at the trio but it goes to waste as Edwina had protected everyone from fire beforehand. An enraged Minsc rushes back but the Balor scores a vorpal hit and lands the killing blow on Firkraag, beating him to the punch. The party recovers a Holy Avenger sword and some scales from the dragon's corpse. Back in Atkhatla, Gar brings the dragon scales to Cromwell who turns them into a shiny new suit of armor for Minsc. The party rests at the Sea's Bounty tavern which gives Edwina and Jan the opportunity to refresh their spell sequencers. The recent excursion into the wilderness reminded Gar that he had promised Minsc to resolve the Umar Hills mystery before the group departed for Spellhold. After restocking their supplies and selling off the extra loot, the party heads for the shadowy ruins of an ancient temple.

[jaxsbudgie]

Thailog wrote...
Yeah, I'm romancing Viconia but I vaguely recall that you can choose whether she'll turn good or stay evil in one of her ToB lovetalks. And I'm definitively getting her that armor. [smilie]http://social.bioware.com/images/forum/emoticons/devil.png[/smilie]

Her alignment does change, not to good though, methinks that's too much of a severe change, neutral is just about achievable for Viconia. But the armour is only for evil people I think, so when she changes alignment she won't be able to wear it anymore. Sad face.

[Thailog]

jaxsbudgie wrote...

Her alignment does change, not to good though, methinks that's too much of a severe change, neutral is just about achievable for Viconia. But the armour is only for evil people I think, so when she changes alignment she won't be able to wear it anymore. Sad face.

Yeah, I probably misremembered that part. It definitively makes more sense for her to turn neutral than jumping straight to good.

Sadly, the point is moot as I failed to get the dragon's blood. I was absolutely certain that my True Neutral character would get the chance to sacrifice the real eggs to the demon but he never received that dialogue option! Sure, I could have attacked the dragon instead of returning the eggs to her but I just couldn't muster a proper RP justification for that after the debacle with the demon. I suppose I could have reloaded an earlier save and give Phaere the real eggs but it would go against my rules for this playthrough.

[Thailog]

Chronicles of Gar, the Half-Orc Assassin, part 15


Reloads so far:

1 - Main char killed by Tolgerias at the planar sphere
2 - Main char killed by Haz under the Shadow Thief guildhall


Party setup:

Gar - Assassin(23)
Minsc - Berserker(19)
Viconia - Fighter(14)/Nightcloak of Shar(14)
Valygar - Archer(18)
Jan - Jester(22)
Edwin - Conjurer(17)


Gar's party arrives at the ruined temple and finds it infested with undead. Viconia makes good use of her Mace of Disruption and disposes of a bunch of shadows, some skeleton warriors and several mummies. The party frees a halfling girl who informs them that a creature known as the Shade Lord has taken up residence in the temple. Apparently, he has corrupted the altar and now wants to cover the entire area in shadows. The group pushes onward and runs into a lich. He is accompanied by several greater mummies who manage to infect Edwina with a strong disease to which she eventually succumbs. Jan attempts to breach the lich's defenses but the spell fails to affect the creature. The undead spellcaster then drops a Horrid Wilting on the party which severely damage everyone except Gar who wisely chose to stay behind. Jan tosses a Remove Magic into the room which finally strips the lich of its protections and Minsc finishes off the undead spellcaster. Viconia raises Edwina and Jan gains a level as the party finds the remains of a child priestess and returns them to her resting place. This grants her spirit peace and Gar receives a magical token which should allow him to pass through the shadowy barriers of the dungeon.

Further ahead, the party encounters another lich and even more greater mummies. Not willing to take any chances, Edwina uses the wand of summoning to conjure up some monsters to distract the undead spellcaster while the party retreats to a safe distance. The tactic works, and the lich wastes his best spells on some lowly hobgoblins and ogres. Edwina drops a death fog into the room in hopes of disrupting the creature's spells just as Minsc finds out that even liches can die from decapitation. Gar solves a floor puzzle and the party finds the last tokens which unlocks their way down. In the large chamber below, the group spots a Shadow Dragon. Luckily, he is oblivious to their presence due to the warding stone which the child priestess gave Gar. He decides to leave the creature alone for now and heads for the corrupted altar. The party finally finds the Shade Lord who turns out to be yet another lich. For some reason, he falls much easier than his colleagues which the party fought on the upper floor and his death finally restores daylight to the area. Minsc and Viconia gain a level and get to pick some more HLAs as the party witnesses the death of the ranger who was apparently the host to the Shade Lord's essence. The party heads back for Umar Hills and informs the mayor of the events. Unfortunately, he doesn't have much money to offer so Gar takes the enchanted lether armor which he offers instead.

The party rests up at the local tavern and Gar decides to take out the Shadow Dragon, figuring that its power must have diminished after the demise of the Shade Lord. The group returns to the abandoned temple and buffs up thoroughly before entering the dragon's lair. The battle starts off well but the dragon quickly pulls up its protection spells. Edwina manages to breach them and Minsc scores another vorpal hit which instantly slays the beast. Well, that was a bit anti-climatic but Gar's not complaining. The party recovers some dragon scales and a scroll which details the construction of a powerful hammer named Crom Fayer. Gar notices that the party has every ingredient on the list except for the Hammer of Thunderbolts which he decides to search for. The group departs for Athkhatla where Cromwell forges Gar a heavily enchanted studded leather armor out of the Shadow Dragon's scales. While passing by his old guild Gar notices that the entrance to a nearby building seems to be heavily trapped. Curious, he disarms the trap and decides to explore the interior. Inside, the group is assaulted by several Battle Horrors. After they are dispatched, the party encounters a golden skull of an ancient lich who asks Gar for help in exchange for a large reward. Apparently, the lich's other body parts were scattered somewhere around the town's tombs. Gar recalls a crypt which contained a lich at the back of the tavern near the city gates so the party heads there next.

At the tavern, everyone prepares for battle and enters the lich's crypt. Minsc takes the lead but the lich protects himself with Improved Mantle which makes the berserker's mighty blade useless. Jan aims a remove magic at the undead spellcaster but Viconia's Mace of Disruption goes through Improved Mantle and ends the creature's existance in one hit. Gar searches the chamber but finds no golden bones. However, he does recover several wands and a powerful magical longsword. Thinking back, he recalls seeing a heavily trapped door in the bridge district so the party heads there next. Inside the building, the group encounters an elemental lich. He fares no better than his predecessor and also falls to Viconia's Mace of Disruption, and this time, Gar finds a set of golden bones inside the lich's coffin. On the way back, Gar notices that a nearby door has a strange, round shaped keyhole. Upon further investigation, it appears to be exactly the size of a Rogue Stone. Gar tries inserting the gem into the socket and the party gets teleported into a secret location where their buffs are instantly dispelled. Not liking this at all, Gar lays down some traps, and orders Jan to summon some skeleton warriors while the rest of the party renew their buffs and prepare for battle. Gar finds a lich who is surprised that someone managed to discover his hideout and summons some reinforcements to deal with the party. In his overconfidence, the lich teleports right into Gar's traps while Jan sends his skeleton warriors to distract his minions. The warrior falls quickly but the beholder is a tough bastard and manages to dispel several of the party's buffs before Jan takes it out with a 3 x Flame Arrow sequencer. A vampire appears next only to get slaughtered by Viconia's Mace of Disruption. Seeing that, a sorceress pops out of invisibility and casts Time Stop. Luckily, she wastes her most powerful spells on the skeleton warriors but manages to gate in a Pit Fiend after getting rid of them. Viconia counters by summoning a Balor of her own, and the two fiends duke it out while the party hangs back. The Balor comes out victorious but it cannot engage the sorceress since she's protected from evil. Jan uses his glasses to dispels the sorceress' invisibility but this proves unnecessary as the Silver Sword once again shows its power. Edwina recovers the Staff of the Magi from the sorceress' body while Gar uses the beholder's eye to open the way out. Unfortunately, this lich didn't have any golden bones either so the party goes back to the search.

After resting up at the Five Flagons, Gar recalls hearing rumors of undead creatures haunting the sewers beneath the temple district and leads his group there. Near Mekrath's lair, the party discovers a door which Gar unlocks using Tazok's key. A powerful psionic force lashes out against the party and Gar instantly links the feeling to his experience in the illithid lair. His suspicions are confirmed as the party enters a chamber of distinctively alien design, fashioned in the style of the mind flayers. Knowing what to expect, Jan and Edwina summon some skeleton warriors and let them clear out the area of the illithid infestation. The main chamber houses a particularly large number of the creatures, including an Alhoon. Two of the skeleton warriors fall so Edwina summons a Mordenkeinen's Sword to help out with the clean up while the rest of the party hangs back and enjoys the view. After the area is secured, Gar and Edwina level up and get to choose their first HLA. Gar picks Use Any Item while Edwina chooses Improved Alacrity. The party finds the Hammer of Thunderbolts in a nearby niche and Gar brings it to Cromwell who finally has all of the ingredients to reforge Crom Fayer. Viconia takes the mighty hammer but is reluctant to put away her trusty Flail of Ages. She decides to start learning how to wield two weapons at the same time at the first opportunity. On the way back, the party meets Degardan, one of Edwin's former associates who seems to be looking for him but Gar covers for the conjurer and his colleague departs.

The party returns to the sewers and Gar decides to explore the old tunnels. In there, the group finds the cultists which the High Watcher of Helm wanted them to investigate. The cult's leader, Gaal, wants the party to get him an ancient artifact from an underground complex. He gives Gar a key which unlocks the reminder of the tunnels. On the way, the party finds another crypt which holds a Shade Lich. The creature puts up an Improved Mantle but Viconia's mace and Valygar's bow punch straight through it and the undead spellcaster crumbles to dust. Gar finds the rest of the golden bones and returns them to Kangaxx. The skull seems a bit too eager to get them so Gar decides to set up a few traps around the area as a precaution. His suspicions are confirmed when the undead spellcaster emerges in his restored lich form and attacks the party. Fortunately, Gar's traps cut Kangaxx down before he can do any harm. However, this seems to be exactly what the creature wanted and it is reborn as a Demi-Lich. Minsc rages onward with the Wave Halberd in hand while Gar and Viconia hastily search their packs for Protection from Undead scrolls. However, reading the scrolls turns out to be unnecessary as the Demi-Lich falls to the Mace of Disruption. Viconia recovers a powerful ring from Kangaxx's remains and the party returns to the sewers to deal with the cultists.

[corey_russell]

Update on Hunter the level 9 fighter dualed to a mage:

Well the party has done all quests that normally get done in chapter two, except King Stromm III quest and Watcher's Keep.

Battles of Note:
* Twisted Rune hideout in Bridge District: I usually avoid this actually but decided to try it, since this is a minimal reload challenge. Haer'Dalis and Imoen died but we prevailed. This run I am using the level 7 sequencer spell a lot. Came in handy this battle, as Imoen had a chromatic orb + 2 magic missile sequencer. It stunned the pit fiend which gave the rest of the party time to finish off the other enemies before finishing off the pit fiend itself. Imoen is the proud owner of the staff of the magi.
* Shadow Dragon in Umar Hills Temple: Anomen was the MVP this battle. He did a Bolt of Glory and a Flamestrike which finished the dragon as you can see:

* Firkraag  Battle: Lots of summons to distract, fired everything we had magic missiles, bolts of glory lightning bolts etc. We took a casualty, Viconia got chunked she was pretty high level (19). As per my original post not reloading for chunks only bugs or PC death.

However we kept at it, and Firkraag finally fell:

I decided now that Viconia is dead we would recruit Keldorn since he can use the Carsomyr.
* North Forest battle vs. the powerful party: this party usually gives me a ton of problems when I battle, which is why I usually avoid it. However, did something different this time (if a bit cowardly). I would get 5 quality summons, have Imoen go invisible (who also happens to be wearing the cloak of non-detection), and she and the summons would head for the enemy party. When Imoen spots them she orders the summons to attack and she books it back to the zone in area. I had to do this THREE times before the party finally succumbed. However didn't take a reload this way. It worked so well had the surviving summons and Imoen do the same technique for the whole map.
* Final Battle with Bodhi: Victory was achieved as you can see:

The battle went pretty uneventfully except for one thing: Keldorn got level drained to nothing (which destroys all the equipment). Here is the list of what was lost:
1) The Equalizer
2) Carsomry
3) Blade of Searing
4) Crom Faeyr
5) Cloak of the Sewers
6) Helm of Charm Protection
7) Djinni Bottle
8) Ring of the Ram
9) Shield of Grace (+3 Large Shield)
I need a fighter, so recruited Mazzy Fentan to replace Keldorn. I ran out of good shields! So we are doing King Stromm's quest next to obtain a good shield for Mazzy. Pretty low on cash as well.

Anomen is easily the MVP of the party. We use his skeletal warriors extensively, and have used his turn undead ability to great effect. Bolts of Glory come in handy on the more difficult enemies as well. Jaheira can summon a Deva now.

Party Line Up and Status:
Jaheira:


Mazzy (just joined) - level 12 fighter, -4 AC, 112 HP

Anomen


Haer'Dalis:


Hunter:


Imoen:

Modifié par corey_russell, 27 septembre 2010 - 05:00 .

[Thailog]

corey_russell wrote...

The battle went pretty uneventfully except for one thing: Keldorn got level drained to nothing (which destroys all the equipment).

Ouch, that was some pretty sweet gear. [smilie]http://social.bioware.com/images/forum/emoticons/sad.png[/smilie]

I wonder what was the developers' rationale for loosing equipment after dying from a level drain effect? Seriously, I don't see the connection.

[Thailog]

Chronicles of Gar, the Half-Orc Assassin, part 16


Reloads so far:

1 - Main char killed by Tolgerias at the planar sphere
2 - Main char killed by Haz under the Shadow Thief guildhall


Party setup:

Gar - Assassin(24)
Minsc - Berserker(20)
Viconia - Fighter(14)/Nightcloak of Shar(15)
Valygar - Archer(18)
Jan - Jester(23)
Edwin - Conjurer(18)


Back underground, the party finds the lost temple of Amaunator after dispatching some shadows, mummies and even a few beholders. Apparently, the followers of the old god have grown to resent him, and an empathic manifestation of their hate now attacks anyone who tries to enter the temple. Gar figures out the creature's weakness and uses his Gloves of Healing to cure it which robs the apparition of its essence and grants Valygar a level. An avatar of the old sun god appears and begs the party to help him destroy a powerful ancient device that he was entrusted with. He gives Gar one piece of the device and explains that the other part needs to be recovered from the Unseeing Eye. In order to do that, the party enlists the help of some former cultists and enters the lower levels of their lair. After dispatching a bunch of minor undead the group runs into another lich. This one's a bit smarter and immediately protects itself from magical weapons. It then casts Time Stop and lobs a bunch of symbol spells at an enraged Minsc who luckily shrugs them off. As soon as the lich's protective spells expire, it falls to the Mace of Disruption, which Viconia promptly nicknames Lich-Bane. After bringing down some greater mummies, Minsc finds the Gloves of Dexterity in nearby crevice. Jan levels up and gains his first HLA. He picks Enhanced Jester Song which is harder to resist for the enemies and makes him immune to mind affecting spells while he sings.

The party comes across another beholder lair and Viconia once again dons her anti-beholder gear and cleans out the place. Edwina helps out by sneaking up on some cult priests and scorching them with a 3 x Sunfire spell trigger. Gar finds the other part of the ancient device but is unwilling to use it and lets Viconia face the Unseeing Eye on her own. She handles the beholder with ease and the party returns the intact device to Amaunator's avatar. The old god and his followers depart with the artifact while Gar and his party clean out the cultists' lair. Gar reports his findings to the High Watcher of Helm who rewards the party with an enchanted mace and enough experience for Minsc and Gar to level up. Minsc picks up the Whirlwind HLA while Gar settles for Danger Sense. The party rests at the Copper Coronet and Gar finally feels that they are ready to face Bodhi. On the way to the graveyard, Degarden approaches the group once again and this time sees through Edwina's deception. He casts a spell which returns Edwin to his male self and the conjurer thanks him with a 3 x Flame Arrow spell sequencer. Apparently, Edwin and the Red Wizards are at odds for some reason, but the mage refuses to explain himself to Gar right now.

At the graveyard, the party buffs up thoroughly before entering Bodhi's lair. Gar uses the elven holy water to cleanse the blood pool which weakens Bodhi's minions as Viconia and Minsc wade through the vampire's ranks. Downstairs, the fight with Bodhi is remarkably short and she quickly falls to Minsc and Viconia's combined hits. Gar stakes her coffin and everyone except him gains a level. Valygar learns Greater Deathblow, Viconia gets a Greater Whirlwind, Jan picks Use Any Item and Edwin can now summon a Dark Planetar. From Bodhi's casket, the party recovers a relic which will supposedly unlock the path to an ancient elven city where Irenicus is hiding at the moment. On the way to the elven encampment, the party is ambushed by a band of Cyric's followers who trigger some kind of warding spell which seals off the area and dispels the party's buffs. Apparently, these rogues belong to a fanatical order of Cyric's clergy and have been watching Gar since his early adventures in Baldur's Gate. Their leader, Venduris, now considers Gar a serious threat to his master's divine throne and a battle ensues. The enemy leader activates a ring of mass invisibility while the sorceress uses a spell sequencer which confuses and slows Gar. Edwin tries to hide using the Staff of the Magi but Venduris sees through the illusion and hits him with a Death Attack, slaying the conjurer on the spot. The confused Gar witnesses this and figures that this guy must be an assassin as well. The other enemies move very quickly and an enraged Minsc is chunked by several backstabs from an elven warrior named Zaeron. Still confused, Gar wanders off into the upper part of the area and gets killed by some snare traps. Ouch, there goes reload No. 3. Next time, the battle goes a bit better but Venduris still manages to kill Jan and Viconia with his backstabs while Valygar gets confused by the sorceress. Edwin manages to summon a Fallen Planetar before getting mazed by the elven warrior while Minsc decapitates the enemy sorceress. The Planetar is unable to withstand the combined assault of the orc barbarian and the elven warrior and goes down. Edwin reappears just in time to get backstabbed by Venduris while Gar, who is still slowed from the sorceress, cannot evade his pursuers. He tries to gulp down an invisibility potion but Venduris reveals the illusion to the elven warrior who finishes Gar off with a backstab. And we're up to reload number 4.

This time, things go a bit differently as everyone carefully picks their spells and rests up prior to leaving the graveyard. Also, before the actual fight starts, Gar turns into the Slayer and eliminates Venduris during a scripted scene by picking an evil dialogue option. Without their leader, the remaining Cyricists fall into disarray. Edwin seizes the opportunity to hide using the Staff of the Magi and starts chanting the incantations for a Time Stop. Meanwhile, Jan tosses a Remove Magic at the elven warrior while Gar, who was once again hit by the sorceress' spell sequencer, avoids getting confused by holding onto the Equalizer. Viconia starts casting True Seeing and an enraged Minsc starts chopping up the enemy barbarian just as Edwin's Time Stop goes off. Taking the opportunity to put Improved Alacrity to the test, Edwin depletes his entire arsenal of offensive spells after summoning a Dark Planetar. His sunfires and magic missiles take out the halfling and badly damage the elven warrior and the cleric while Minsc and Viconia concentrate on the orc barbarian. The sorceress somehow escapes the explosion unharmed and activates a defensive spell sequencer. Edwin instructs the Planetar to cast True Sight right before she reappears and nails him with a Power Word: Kill. The Planetar manages to finish off the elven warrior and Minsc scores a vorpal hit on the sorceress which leaves just the cleric and the barbarian to deal with. Gar attempts a Death Attack on the cleric but fails, while Minsc and Viconia easily finish off the barbarian who had become confused by Jan's singing. Meanwhile, the Planetar runs into some snares while chasing the enemy cleric and dies. Jan tosses a few skull traps around and the cleric eventually triggers two of them. Valygar finishes him off with a few ice arrows and the intense battle is finally over. Phew!

Gar gains a level and Viconia raises Edwin while the party recovers a truckload of magical items from the enemies' bodies. As Jan is about to identify them, he finds a strange scroll on Venduris' corpse. Gar examines the parchment and deciphers a command phrase which allows the party to nullify the wards that are blocking the area. Hehe, looks like some of the mod authors were fans of the Gargoyles TV show. That sentence is taken verbatim from the series. Anyway, Jan starts identifying the loot and passing the goods around. Gar grabs Venduris' luckstone, sword, cloak and ring while Jan keeps Zaeron's elven armor. Minsc gets a pair of Boots of Speed while Valygar grabs the Blindstrike Bow and the Boots of the Fox. After regaining his composure and chugging a healing potion, Edwin finds a Ring of Wizardry which doubles his first and second level spells. Sweet, he can squeeze even more power out of Improved Alacrity with this. Viconia grabs the barbarian's helmet and the rest of the loot is sold off at the Copper Corronet where the party gets some well deserved rest.

Modifié par Thailog, 27 septembre 2010 - 11:52 .

[corey_russell]

Hunter the level 9 fighter dualed to mage update:



Reloads so far:

1) Main character died in mage challenge in Underdark



Made some more progress. We battled in Suldanessar and did well. The hard fight though was against Nizi the black dragon. We used a TON of summons but they were worthless. Eventually while chasing a summon it approached the party. We hit it with everything we had. We did prevail but Haer'Dalis got chunked:







We perservered and continued onto the palace. We destroyed Irenicus parasites and then we commenced battle almost buffless except both Imoen and Hunter had spell turning active. I did something different this battle. Hunter withdrew from the battle area, and then cast project image. The entire fight he only used his image to battle Irenicus while Anomen and Jaheira and Mazzy meleed. Imoen was killed in a time stop by Irenicus. She always seems to be a favorite target of his in my runs. However, Hunter cast a planetar and then did a dispel magic. Hunter is such high level this dispelled nearly all of Irencus protections and fell:







The party fell into Hell and will explore there next.

[Thailog]

Chronicles of Gar, the Half-Orc Assassin, part 17


Reloads so far:

1 - Main char killed by Tolgerias at the planar sphere
2 - Main char killed by Haz under the Shadow Thief guildhall
3&4 - Main char killed during an encounter with Cyric's Chosen


Party setup:

Gar - Assassin(26)
Minsc - Berserker(22)
Viconia - Fighter(15)/Nightcloak of Shar(16)
Valygar - Archer(20)
Jan - Jester(25)
Edwin - Conjurer(19)


The party brings the artifact which was recovered from Bodhi's lair back to the elven general who uses it to open a path to the hidden city of Suldanesselar. It seems that the elven settlement is besieged by Irenicus' troops. Gar and company get rid of some golems, trolls and skeleton warriors and help a few refugees back to safety which grants Jan a level. Viconia's Crom Fayer was very useful here as it kills lesser golems in one hit. The party eventually rescues an elven priestess from some rakasha who instructs Gar to look for three sacred relics which will summon the avatar of an elven god and get rid of the invaders. The group disposes of some more rakasha and a couple of demons before running into a black dragon. After a brief skirmish, Viconia slays the beast but Minsc and Gar nearly die from the damage caused by the deadly insects that the dragon had summoned. Gar recovers a sacred cup from the dragon's hoard and uses it along with two other relics that he had found to summon the avatar of an elven god. The avatar disposes of Irenicus' minions and points the party to The tree of Life. Valygar and Gar gain a level and the party takes a short rest before descending the stairwat which leads to Irenicus.

At the Tree of Life Ellisime, the queen of the elves, appears before the party and warns them about Irenicus' plans. Apparently, he is attempting to siphon the energy of the tree and wants to use it to become greater that the gods themselves. Gar dispatches two parasitic creatures which are helping Irenicus to gather the energy and finds the mage encased in an impenetrable magic shell. As Irenicus seems distracted by gathering the tree's energy, Gar uses the opportunity to lay some snares beneath his feet. The party dispatches the last parasite which breaks the magic barrier. Immediately, Irenicus is cut down by Gar's snares before he can cast even a single spell. As he dies, Gar feels a strange force tugging at his soul and he and his party find themselves in the abyss after apparently dying. The abyssal plane bears the markings of Bhaal and Gar figures out that this must have something to do with his divine soul and the way Irenicus stole it.

After the group regains their composure, Gar leads them to explore the area. In one of the nearby chambers, Gar runs into an apparition of Sarevok, his late brother. The specter explains that Gar's divine soul holds sway in this place and manages to taunt Gar into using the Slayer's power against him. In his rage, Gar slays his brother a second time gaining a Tear of Bhaal which grants him a +2 bonus to his strength. In the next chamber, a demon tries to talk Gar into killing a powerful beast but he figures out that it's a peaceful silver dragon and talks the creature into giving him a Tear of Bhaal instead. For his trouble, Gar gains 30% resistance to magical damage. Another demon offers Gar a cloak made of nymph skin which protects the wearer against fear. Gar notes that if the nymphs are already dead he may as well take the item and obtains another Tear of Bhaal which grants him a +2 bonus to his dexterity score. The next demon takes Viconia captive and taunts Gar into sacrificing his own health to rescue her. Gar refuses and opts to fight the demon instead. The fiend eventually gives in and Gar obtains the fourth Tear of Bhaal which grants him 30% resistance against slashing damage. In the final chamber a demon gives Gar a powerful sword and instructs him to use it to deal with an enslaved genie. After some consideration, Gar relinquishes the weapon deciding that it does not fit his fighting style and obtains the final Tear of Bhaal which grants him a +2 bonus to his sawing throws. Once the final tear is inserted into the abyssal door, Irenicus appears.

This time, the mage does not stand alone and summons a couple of demons to fight by his side. Edwin counters with a Fallen Planetar while Irenicus transforms into the Slayer and creates a Mislead clone. Gar slays a Glabrezu with a Death Attack while Viconia and the Planetar take out a Balor. In doing so, Viconia notices that Irenicus' Balors explode when killed unlike all the other Balors that the party has slain so far. Viconia and Jan gain a level and Edwin breaches Irenicus' defenses but then gets hit by a Power Word: Stun from one of the surviving demons. Gar dispatches another Glabrezu while Valygar takes out the remaining Balor who also explodes. Edwin and Viconia are near death when Minsc manages to score a vorpal hit on Irenicus which unfortunately doesn't work. The mage instantly pulls up another Protection from Magic Weapons and Jan breaches it again. Gar, who was waiting for an opening, uses his Assassination HLA which, coupled with Improved Haste, allows him to inflict a great deal of damage and Irenicus finally dies. Gar's soul is restored and the party is resurrected by the elven queen. She bids them farewell and Gar heads for a sacred grove seeking some answers about his destiny from the ancient stone faces.

Modifié par Thailog, 28 septembre 2010 - 07:21 .