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[SapphireIce101]

Another Update. I got bored and started resting for like...a whole week in game time. Also, may be the last update for the Night.

Warning: This contains the last part of FFT. Skip if you don't want to get spoiled!

Kalyinara went to the bridge district and talked a few people, and found some evidence that says that the Tanner was murdering people and skinning them. So she gave the evidence to the Inspector and he went to go talk to the Tanner; however, Kalyinara also went to the Tanner, and found out that the inspector was killed, and cleared the place of its...foulness. Then she gave the body of the inspector to the Chief inspector.









Kalyinara went to Trademeet now, just to see how the town was doing. That was when she was confronted by a lady who said her son's girlfriend didn't return. So Kalyinara talked to some people, and explored Trademeet, until she found a person hunting some "skin dancers". Then she followed the hunter, and found the Tanner! However, the Tanner was really the girlfriend! So Kalyinara killed the Tanner, and his friend. Kalyinara went back to the house, and got a reward.









Kalyinara went to Porthpentyrch for a final time. It was saved, and its citizens were no longer undead. So she went to the inn and talked to the Ex-harper. Once that was done, she went to the Den of Seven Vales in Athkatla and told Elminster. Then Elminster went on his merry way.



Kalyinara - Feywarden of Corellon - 13
Jaheira - Fighter/Totemic Druid - 10/10
Xan - Fighter/Mage - 10/11
Yoshimo - Bounty Hunter - 15
Faren- Fighter -> Thief - 7 -> 15
Kivan - Archer - 12

Reloads: Two

[SapphireIce101]

First Update of the day for Kalyinara!

Kalyinara and her group returned to Sir Aster (Not lady, and I apologize for calling her Lady. Haha.), and told her that the Vampires were destroyed, but their leader, Bodhi, had escaped. Sir Aster said that Kalyinara and her group did all of the tasks required of them and that she was now sending them to Spellhold. So Kalyinara, and Sir Aster spoke to a man named Saemon Havarian, and Kalyinara and Sime set sail to Brynnlaw with Saemon. However, upon reaching Brynnlaw, Kalyinara and her group were ambushed by Vampires.








After the Ambush, Kalyinara went to go find Sanik.Which Kalyinara did find Sanik and saved him. However, the only way Kalyinara was going to get the information she needed was to save Sanik's future wife, Claire. So Kalyinara went on a huge quest to save Claire, with involved killing a couple of men to actually get to Claire. However, in the end Kalyinara did save Claire, and got the information that she needed.











Kalyinara spoke to Desharik as suggested by Captain Golin, and got into spellhold with Yoshimo's help.



Kalyinara - Feywarden of Corellon - 13
Jaheira - Fighter/Totemic Druid - 10/10
Xan - Fighter/Mage - 10/11
Yoshimo - Bounty Hunter - 15
Faren- Fighter -> Thief - 7 -> 16
Kivan - Archer - 12

Reloads: Two

[BelgarathMTH]

Good work, Sapphire, you're catching up to me! I like to take a leisurely pace through the game, usually. But I may need to pick it up a little if I'm going to make my goal of finishing ToB before summer break ends.

BTW, I forgot to say in my last update that I made level 16 after bringing Avalon her eggs, and I took Spell Trigger for my new 8th level spell.

My reload counter remains at 3.

Modifié par BelgarathMTH, 09 juillet 2011 - 04:52 .

[SapphireIce101]

Thanks! I'm in Spellhold...and I had the "Items are taken away from you component" installed from SCSII...and I didn't know/forgot that there were items in the Bag of Holding so I did most of the fights without decent armor on or weapons. Haha.

[BelgarathMTH]

@Sapphire, wow, you're using SCSII? I certainly would never use that, even in a regular game, much less in a "Trapped" game. (All my games are "Trapped" games. I'm into high-fantasy role-playing and self-examination. If I wanted to play chess, I'd play chess.)

I tried SCS one time in BG1, and I started laughing and making fun of how phony and unfair I thought it was, starting in the Nashkel Mines, and I uninstalled it (except for Skip Candlekeep and Remove Ugly Stoneskin), and I never looked back! Not to insult any of the people who love it, who are legion (invoking Seinfeld - "Not that there's anything wrong with that! )

******************************

So, I've this current game in progress, and I am having soooo much fun, you just wouldn't believe it! I haven't played this far into SoA in years, and it's now like a whole new game to me! Great Oghma, this game is huge! They truly and lamentably do not make them like this any more.

So again, I've now finished the Underdark (finally!), talked to the elves in the army camp, agreed to find their Lantern, and headed back to Athkatla. (again, finally!) 

Met Drizzt, exchanged pleasantries, left the "I'm EEEEvil and want Drizzt's possessions" screen.

Got hit by my multiple strongholds. Went to De'Arnise Keep and paid to start an army against the Roenalls. Told my Sphere apprentices to start working on the Staff. Paid the phony psychic to undo the "MacBeth Curse" (yeah, I think she's phony, but she'll make my players feel better). Ran into the githyanki again, got tired of their bullcrap, decided this time not to offer them their Silver Shard back. Got the Shaft of the Silver Shard.

About to go to Cromwell and see what he can make out of what we've got so far.

About to go to the Graveyard and attack Bodhi. (At least, I think she's probably there.)

More later.

Signing off.

[SapphireIce101]

An update on Kalyinara!

Kalyinara found Imoen. She was a bit...insane. Kalyinara thought "NOOOO!!!! I WAS TOO LATE!" However, a few hours later Irenicus showed up and captured Kalyinara again, and sent her into a dream. They also found out that Yoshimo was a traitor, and that he was really trying to kill Kalyinara because she killed Tamoko.(At least I think Kalyinara killed Tamoko.) Where she had to give up a bit of her speed, and fight with a Dream Bhaal infromt of a Dream Imoen.










Kalyinara and her group were thrown into a maze for Bodhi's entertainment, and without any armor or weapons whatsoever.(There was some in a BoH, but alas, I didn't look until I was done with the level above Bodhi's.) Kalyinara cleared the maze, and turned into the Slayer. Many people within her group were either scared or not impressed. Then she cleared the test and was rated satisfactory.















Once out of the Maze, and trials, Kalyinara spoke to Saemon, Lonk, and the mad Mages. Then she looked for her items which were in Irenicus's desk. (Can't go into a battle wearing the crappy armor.) Then she went down stairs and took on Irenicus, who fled, and Yoshimo, who is now dead. Kalyinara had a nightmare about Imoen, and becoming the slayer. (Haha. That rhymes.) Then she went upstairs, and spoke to Saemon again, and decided to go to the mainland by boat instead of taking a portal. However, once they spoke to Saemon again, he told Kalyinara that they had to steal Desharik's boat. Which they did.












Then the ship set sail, and the group came into some serious complications with the Githyanki, and ..The shark people. They also had to prove themselves to the shark people because Kalyinara has a divine destiny with them too.






Kalyinara - Feywarden of Corellon - 15
Jaheira - Fighter/Totemic Druid - 11/11
Xan - Fighter/Mage - 11/12
Imoen - Adventurer -> Mage - 15 -> 14
Faren- Fighter -> Thief - 7 -> 17
Kivan - Archer - 13

Reloads: Two

[SapphireIce101]

@Sapphire, wow, you're using SCSII? I certainly would never use that, even in a regular game, much less in a "Trapped" game. (All my games are "Trapped" games. I'm into high-fantasy role-playing and self-examination. If I wanted to play chess, I'd play chess.)

I tried SCS one time in BG1, and I started laughing and making fun of how phony and unfair I thought it was, starting in the Nashkel Mines, and I uninstalled it (except for Skip Candlekeep and Remove Ugly Stoneskin), and I never looked back! Not to insult any of the people who love it, who are legion (invoking Seinfeld - "Not that there's anything wrong with that! )

I take no offense to it! I just like making things harder, and challenging! I can't even force myself to use the "Skip Candlekeep" Component on SCS, and this is my first time trying the "Take away items while in the maze" Component, and it certainly does add to the story to say that "While looking for my items..."..Haha. However, I can force myself to use the remove ugly stoneskin, and not make stoneskin/iron skin change avatar colors.

Yaaaaaaaaay! Out of the Underdark for you. While I'm about to enter them..

[BelgarathMTH]

shorthand update:

Killed Bodhi, got Faren restored.

(RANT - I had forgotten how ANNOYING this quest chain is. The chain is easily broken, and the quest gets broken if you skip anything anywhere along the way. You MUST have three books from the "wrong" side of Bodhi's lair to get it started. If you didn't know they were there, you'd miss it. I know I did the first time I played, and this time as well, and the first time, there was no such thing as the internet where you could look up where you went wrong!

You MUST visit the Temple of Oghma, AFTER finding the three books, and talk to the MONK, not the priest! I distinctly remember that the last time I did this back in 1998 or so, I figured out how to go to the Umar Hills and put the body and the Bodhi Heart on the altar - upon which it promptly spit back out the body and the heart, with no resurrected lover!

AARGH! And now, to add insult to injury, everything Faren had on his person when Bodhi took him is gone, apparently erased from the game - including the Gesen bow, Lilarcor, and the Bag of Holding, as well as a bag full of potions! Not to mention two good rings, a necklace, and an ioun stone! END OF RANT)

Sooo, we're ready to go to Suldanessalar now. More on this as it develops.

No reloads today. ( I wouldn't have any if I had neither started with the Kelsey mod nor gone against my gut and decided to see what it was like to fight Firkraag. The one against the Unseeing Eye, I deserved, because I was counting too much on the Sheild of Baldy and had forgotten what an Elder Eye can do.)

Total reloads: 3

[SapphireIce101]

Ouch! Kalyinara won't run into the problem that you had, but thats a wee bit spoilerish. However, I think the last time I did that quest was like...a couple of years ago when I had a character romance Anomen (UGH! Ewwww...I dislike Anomen.) Otherwise, I do believe I just rushed to the Altar with other romance mods, or had a goddess from another world would just be like "INSTA-REZ!" (I think thats happens in...a mod. I will not name it!) Also, tough luck on the missing items! Did you check the Graveyard District where Bodhi abducts the love interest?

After a wee break its time for another update! Might be the last update for a week. So I may post a Challenger Update for people reading the thread. Haha.

Kalyinara talked to the High Priestess, and decided to -talk- with the Prince instead of kill him.


Then, Kalyinara went to go get the Tooth of Sekolah. Which involved playing a game with some imps, and talking to a Spectator Beholder, and tricking it into looking away from the chest while stealing the Tooth.






Next, Kalyinara had to fight her way through the City of Caverns, and spoke to the Prince. She said that she would take the fake heart to the King. Which she did, and she killed the king too. Kalyinara got a reward.






Lastly, Kalyinara went into the Underdark, and spoke to some Duergar that said that they saw Irenicus, and Bodhi.


Kalyinara - Feywarden of Corellon - 16
Jaheira - Fighter/Totemic Druid - 11/11
Xan - Fighter/Mage - 11/12
Imoen - Adventurer -> Mage - 15 -> 14
Faren- Fighter -> Thief - 7 -> 18
Kivan - Archer - 14

Reloads: Two

[SapphireIce101]

Current Challengers:

Name: Raechl
Race: Half-Elf
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
class: Cleric/Mage
Party or Solo?: Solo
Members of Party(N/A if Solo): N/A
Location: de'Arnise Keep/Hold
Reloads: One
Entered By: PicklePepperPiper

Name: Kalyinara
Race: Elf
Alignment: Chaotic Good
class: Feywarden of Corellon
Party or Solo?: Party
Members of Party(N/A if Solo): Irenicus's Dungeon: Jaheira, Minsc, Imoen, Yasraena and Yoshimo.
Outside of Irenicus's Dungeon: Jaheira, Xan(Replaced by Deheriana.) Kivan, Yoshimo(Replaced by Imoen.), and Faren
ToB Party: Jaheira, Deheriana(Xan is probably dead.) Kivan, Imoen, and Faren
Location: Underdark
Reloads: Two
Entered by: SapphireIce101

Name: Todd
Race: Human
Alignment: Neutral Good
class: Sorceror
Party or Solo?: Party
Members of Party(N/A if Solo): Jaheira, Anomen, Keldorn, Aerie, and Faren.
Location: Suldanesselar(sp?)
Reloads: Three
Entered by: BelgarathMTH

Future Challengers:

Name: Akiel
Race: Elf
Alignment: Neutral Evil
class: Fighter/Thief
Party or Solo?: Party
Members of Party(N/A if Solo?): Irenicus's Dungeon: Jaheira, Imoen, Minsc, Yoshimo, and Yasraena.
Outside of Irenicus's Dungeon: Korgan, Edwin, Viconia, and don't know who else.
ToB Party: Korgan, Edwin, Viconia, Sarevok, and don't know who else.
Location: Irenicus's Dungeon
Reloads: None.
Entered by: SapphireIce101

Successful Challengers:

Name: Ayaka
Race: Elf
Alignment: Neutral Good
class: Fighter/Mage/Thief
Party or Solo?: Party
Members of Party(N/A if Solo): In Irenicus' Dungeon: Jaheira, Imoen, Yoshimo, and Minsc. Once outside of Irenicus' Dungeon: Jaheira, Coran(NPC Mod), Kivan(NPC Mod), Yoshimo(Replaced by Imoen.), and Haldamir
ToB Party: Jaheira, Sarevok(Replaced Haldamir), Coran, Kivan, and Imoen
Location: Traveling around with Kivan.
Reloads: One in SoA. 5 in ToB if you count the CTDs in the Final Battle.
Entered by: SapphireIce101

Modifié par SapphireIce101, 10 juillet 2011 - 02:53 .

[BelgarathMTH]

@Sapphire, congratulations on completing the Sahuagin module. Good luck in the Underdark.

Thanks for the tip about Faren's stuff possibly being in the Graveyard District gates. I'll look, although I've moved around a lot since then, so I'll be pleasantly surprised if I find it.

I noticed you put me in your challenger summary list. Thanks, man. It makes me feel good that I've finally made my mark on the world! Yay!

[BelgarathMTH]

Captain's Log: Stardate 07, 10, 11.

We met with near disaster in Suldenessellar. Some would say it was an unqualified disaster. Things had been going well; we cleared the streets of Irenicus' army of golems and rashaka. We found two of the three relics we needed to summon the avatar of the elven god.

The last of the relics, however, was guarded by a black dragon!

I was not correctly prepared for the battle. We had no antidotes, first of all. I've been relying successfully on spells for poison control, for a long time. Spells were not adequate here. My entire team should have been equipped with antidotes.

I did not have my sequencers and spell trigger loaded optimally. I should have had one loaded with three Lower Resistance, for starters.

Long story short, the dragon ignored my attempts to placate it and attacked. It almost immediately neutralized Aerie, Ano, and Faren. Keldorn was hanging on by threads. I myself was hurt so bad, burning with acid, I thought I would surely pass out any second. So I sounded the retreat.

Three Raise Deads and Heals later, I reevaluated my strategy. Fortunately, the dragon seemed to be contained by some kind of wards that prevent it from entering Suldanessellar proper. I decided to use that to my advantage. I tried Improved Invisible to see if I could recover our lost equipment. That was no good, it turns out that it had permanent True Sight.

So I loaded my sequencers with a better assortment of Lower Resistances followed by damage spells. My plan was to strike with everything I had, and then retreat back up into the city. Fortunately, it was not regenerating after damage. Aerie and I were able to take it down.

Fighters, clerics, and rogues seem almost helpless against dragons. I feel vindicated in being a sorcerer. I finally feel as though the team would have been lost without Aerie and me. We are finally useful.

Lost forever to acid dragon breath: The Tuigan Shortbow. The Robe of the Good Archmage (thank Oghma I was wearing Vecna myself). Pixie ******. Too many valuable rings, necklaces, and suits of armor to enumerate.

We took the artifacts back to the temple, purified it, and spoke to the god's avatar. He removed the wards from the palace and took care of as much of the remaining enemy army as possible. He instructed us that we must go into the palace and save the queen.

We are decimated. We will rest in the temple for at least a day before proceeding. Much of our best equipment is lost. I attemped to travel back to civilization to restock our supplies, but the entire area appears to be sealed off by magic. We must press on to the end of this.....
*********************************************************

No reloads today. Total reloads, 3

I made 17th level Sorc. Took Mass Invisibility and Simulacrum.

Modifié par BelgarathMTH, 11 juillet 2011 - 08:24 .

[BelgarathMTH]

Captain's Log, Stardate 071111.

It's been a long and arduous struggle, but my team and me have finally ended the Irenicus threat. We found him below the basement and dungeons of the elven palace, holding Queen Ellesime prisoner and siphoning energy from their Tree of Life in an attempt to use the Bhaal essence to rise to "godhood".

We killed some parasites and freed the queen, who took back most of the energy Irry stole and left him vulnerable. He still proved to be enormously powerful.

My command skills were again somewhat lacking. Irry was prepared with quite a few necromancy spells that could have been deflected with Death Wards, which we had prepared - except that I forgot to order my clerics to cast them before confronting Irry!

Aerie and Jaheira went down almost instantly to necromancy. Keldorn almost died. Ano was almost miraculously able to Heal him while I distracted Irry by pretending to break down in fear and start running. In the end we had him down and almost dead, but then we got caught in some kind of transporter beam.

We were transported to what I recognized from my "computer game" experience on Earth as the homeworld of the Kreegan, or one very much like it. I had to face five "demons" who tempted me. (I am getting very weary of aliens pretending to be gods and devils.) Their various ruses were quite transparent, and it was not that hard to solve all their riddles, but I did get zapped with something that seems to have made me more clumsy (-1 DEX). However, I also got zapped with five beams that were apparently meant to reward my "goodness" by making me stronger.

At the end, we were left to face Irry, who had been given a team of Kreegan to bring his numbers even with ours. He seemed diminished in his power, thank Oghma. (not all "god" aliens are unworthy of admiration; I often choose to pay them the respect they desire).

We concentrated everything we had on Irry and ignored his Kreegan, who seemed too distracted and puzzled by our tactics to start using their spells (now that would have been a battle!)

We beat Irry down again, and he got transported or "quantum leaped" somewhere again.

Back in Suldanessellar, with my team and me having been Healed of our wounds and near-death injuries, I had one of those "Dreams" that I've been having since I got here that import surprisingly reliable info. I saw Irry on another part of the Kreegan homeworld, being swarmed by Kreegan. They pushed him and themselves into a lake of lava. I sincerely hope it ended Irry's misery, finally. Despite everything, I still pitied him, and I wished I could have found some way to redeem him.
*************************************************

On to ToB! (yay!) We were instantly placed at the beginning of the new storyline courtesy of BGT. (Hooray, BGT! You rock!)

Total reloads: 3

I remain at 17th level sorc.

Modifié par BelgarathMTH, 11 juillet 2011 - 08:28 .

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

@ SI101 and BMTH, Following your adventures thoroughly and enjoying your efforts in BGII SoA/ToB. I'll catch up some day but I'm still plugging around on Level 2 of the Cloakwood mines back in BGI TotSC.

@ SI101: Glad Kalyinara crossed over. Always rootin' for her. That's my girl, uh, I mean, Elf.

@ BMTH: Noted that you almost "met disaster" @ Suldenessellar. I try to make my PC and each of my NPCs carry a standard 'first aid kit' of at least one or two antidotes and as many five healing potions. It's a little tough back where I'm at, and in the underdark too, but wherever possible I try to make that Standing Operating Procedure (SOP). I use Elixer's of Health with Minsc because Boo takes up so much room.

CKT

[BelgarathMTH]

@CKT, that's very good advice, and I'm following it in ToB. It's just that most people in my party have Slow Poison (Keldorn and post-Slayer me are the only ones who don't), and that was always enough before. Of course, I had never fought a black dragon before.

I forgot to mention that Blackdrag destroyed the Shield of Balduran. OUCH! Now I don't have it for ToB.

I've cleared the lower passages of Saradush, and I am about to storm Gromnir's castle. More on this as it develops.

Thank you for reading my stories. Sapphire is on vacation for the next week, so I wasn't sure anyone would.

I never know for sure how much detail and narrative to put into my writing. I enjoy it as long as I have at least one or two readers, but sometimes I think that most people don't really care to read other people's stories.

In the no-reload threads, all they care about are strategies, and story and/or roleplaying are mostly irrelevant. I can't get into that at all.

I enjoy other people's narrative efforts, and I am trying to notice the others who actually spend time writing their posts, and to give those people at least a little feedback and encouragement so that they will keep writing.

I like having something to look forward to (sharing stories) when I take a break from my game.

[corey_russell]

Just putting my 2 cents Belgarath about writing narratives of our adventures. Would like to make a couple points about it:
1) If someone would to chronicle their entire adventure from Candlekeep to Undercity, it would be a VERY large novel
2) Sometimes some people write some very in depth story from Candlkeep. But they can't keep it up to the end it's too much writing
3) Surely one life's being threatened would be worthy to include in a story. This would be about every battle, every ambush
4) Baldur's gate takes a lot of time to play, in of itself. Then like in my case you add work, family, chess club, chores at the house and not a ton a time to write, not that there isn't any inclination on my part (you students and retired folks though, go ahead and write that novel!)

Sample: Say you wanted to say you tried to get from Naskhel to Friendly Arm Inn but got ambushed by 12 archers.

Story Form:
"Khalid, Branwen, Iomen the mage and myself a thief were traveling on the road to Friendly Arm Inn but got ambushed by 12 archers! They surrounded us! Khalid charged with his bastard sword at the bandit straight ahead. Branwen tried to fear some of them with her fear wand. Poor Imoen took 3 arrows immediately, she's hurt bad! NO! I can't let this happen! From out of nowhere I cast a heal on her, not sure how I did that. That helped some but the arrows still coming. Khalid killed his bandit, and is attacking the one north of first one he attacked. Branwen is using her sling to whittle them down. Imoen is gulping healing potions like they are going out style. We got to get these guys fast! I load my acid arrows and fire away hoping I can get them before Imoen can no longer heal herself. Six bandits are down, but still six to go! This is so stressful, how much fighting like this do I have to do?"

And basically this is just 1/2 a battle. No one could keep this up with the amount of battles in BG.

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

That story cracked me up c_r. Oh well, writing the stories is half the fun for me but I'm over on the junior circuit now.

By the way, I know about the 'other' stuff all too well. I just try to find an hour or so every other day when I'm not at work, the lawn is mowed, and my my wife and six kids are not paying any attention to me...

[BelgarathMTH]

@Corey, my question wasn't really "why don't more people write out their BG narratives?", although you give a very good answer about why they don't.

My question was meant as "do people care to read it when somebody does take the time to narrate some of the highlights?"

From your tone, I'm guessing your answer is no, not really.

Oh well, it was fun to do it for a little while, and I still enjoy reading other people's efforts, but I guess I have to consider not doing it any more, because it may be a waste of effort. 

Incidentally - I enjoyed your paragraph narrating half of a battle. I was quite engaged for the 30 seconds it took me to read it. Even though you meant it as a sarcastic level of detail, you still wound up writing an interesting paragraph's worth of action. 

I like stuff like that. That's why I've spent so much of my leisure time reading Eddings, Jordan, Martin, et al. 

Modifié par BelgarathMTH, 13 juillet 2011 - 03:38 .

[corey_russell]

I don't mean to discourage you Belgarath. LIke I said, if you have the time go ahead and write that story, I'll read it. I was only discussing why not every one writes that kind of narrative, not whether you should write one or not. I don't think it's a wasted effort, because you can tell about how many views since your last post that many people read the stories without commenting.

As an example, I once wrote a campfire thread (where people used to go who failed their no-reloads but still wanted to post their adventure) about Verhan the ranger's adventure from start of BG 2 to all the way to Melissan and defeated her. I had very few comments but I found out at the end many people were reading the account, they just didn't say anything.

Modifié par corey_russell, 13 juillet 2011 - 03:51 .

[BelgarathMTH]

Okay, thanks, Corey. If I feel like writing, I'll write.

I know I've had tremendous fun playing Baldur's Gate during this year's summer break, and in feeling like I'm sharing the fun with a few friends out there who are also enjoying their own runs.

I look forward to eating some lunch and then spending the rest of this afternoon playing my ToB run.

Modifié par BelgarathMTH, 13 juillet 2011 - 04:07 .

[BelgarathMTH]

Captain's Log, Stardate 071311.

We have deposed the mad tyrant Gromnir. I of course tried diplomacy, but he attacked my party more or less on sight and would not be reasoned with.

Once again, Keldorn was key to the battle, as Gromnir was employing two very powerful mages. I'm not sure whether Carsomyr was the sine qua non to our victory or not. I still feel very guilty about how we got it. I think that his innate True Sight, which dispels much of the worst that mages can do on this world, would perhaps have been enough.

After Gromnir was deposed (we had no choice but to kill him and his followers, unfortunately), Melissan appeared and suggested that the only way out of the Faerunian reality in which we have been trapped is to attack the giant Yaga-Shura, who is besieging her city. She told us that he is invlunerable unless we get the latest MacGuffin of MacGuffiness that dispels his defenses. I am seeing that this sort of thing is a very standard trope here.

We traveled to the mountains of the fire giants, following the first lead that Melissan gave us. If this lead doesn't pan out, there is another lead to a temple in the swamps.

The fire giants are very tough, and they attack on sight. Keldorn, Jaheira, and Ano continue to very bravely fight the giants toe to toe, while Aerie, Faren, and I stand back and provide ranged support fire. Jaheira's, Ano's, and Aerie's Heal spells are perhaps our most important resource.

I have taken the custom of doing these journal entries in the style of fictional military commanders who were very popular back on Earth. I hope that my reader will forgive me the conceit of fancying myself as a good military commander; I find that it helps me keep these entries more concise if I use the style.

I still believe that the "gods" of this world have chosen certain individuals from Earth to play out some kind of scenario here relating to a dangerous rogue member of their own species, "Bhaal". The good ones among them have actually given me a lot of reason to trust their benign intentions, while the... um, "not so good" ones have shown me some very terrifying maleficence. "Rats in a maze" comes to mind.

I believe I have complete control over the monster transformation power given to me by Bhaal at this point. I never intend to lose control over my darker impulses like that again!

We will now be proceeding deeper into the fire giant hills to see what we can find.

End of log entry.
********************
17th level Sorcerer (still)
Total Reloads: 3

[corey_russell]

Inquisitors are indeed quite valuable in ToB. Keldorn was my key contributor on my successful no-reload of Candar the berserker thru ToB.

[Saint of Sinners]

corey_russell wrote...

I had very few comments but I found out at the end many people were reading the account, they just didn't say anything.

This is true. I also read the bulk of the threads here. This thread gets a special mention because I load up a whole page for about 3 minutes before I read it because of Sapphire's pics (don't worry, it's alright, it's just really chaotic when they load up at the same time, heh). It's fun reading about how people go with their games, now that I've been quietly devoting myself to no-reload runs.

Besides, who doesn't want to read up on alternate strategies found in the middle of all the muck of spells thrown left and right in those pictures? In my gameplay, I play so safely it's disgusting. I plan for 30 minutes, read for 30 more minutes, and play out the plan in 5-10 minutes. That's quite the stress right there.

So, don't worry, guys. You actually do us a big favor when you write up things like this. It makes people like me remember that, hey, it's a game meant to be enjoyed.

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

Good rundown Belgarath. You make me wanna jump to straight from TotSC to TOB to see what I can do but I'm gonna stay back and enjoy the ride till I get there.

Gromnir and Yaga-Shura. Tough foes indeed.

Keldorn, on the other hand is awesome. He never misses a SoA/ToB party in my runs. Come to think of it, neither does Anomen. Or Jaheira. Or Nalia. Or Yoshi. And you can't dump Imoen unless you're forced to.

This time over in the 'minors' I'm really letting the story lead me as oposed to aimless adventuring. Doing that in SoA means going after Nalia as soon as possible. I'm thinking about that for next time, when my Cavalier, Stanley II makes it to the Major Leagues. Only fear is that is you go after her too soon, they'll be lot's of reloading. There's something to be said for stocking up on experience before you head to Spellhold, me thinks.

[corey_russell]

Actually having low experience doesn't hurt you in Spellhold. But it sure can when you are in Underdark. Also there are some nice items at the drow shops but if you don't have enough gold you can't get them, and if you leave the Underdark you can't go back...to me at least this particular detail is the biggest drawback of getting Imoen early.